[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 744 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 744

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Republic 
 of Argentina's continued participation in the Group of Twenty Finance 
     Ministers and Central Bank Governors (G20) nations should be 
    conditioned on its adherence to international norms of economic 
                    cooperation and the rule of law.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 18, 2014

Mr. Posey submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Republic 
 of Argentina's continued participation in the Group of Twenty Finance 
     Ministers and Central Bank Governors (G20) nations should be 
    conditioned on its adherence to international norms of economic 
                    cooperation and the rule of law.

Whereas Argentina has enjoyed the privilege of membership in the Group of Twenty 
        Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (G20) since the formation 
        of the G20 in 1999;
Whereas at the first G20 Summit in 2008, leaders of the member nations committed 
        to free market principles, ``including the rule of law, respect for 
        private property, open trade and investment, competitive markets, and 
        efficient, effectively regulated financial systems'', which ``are 
        essential to economic growth and prosperity'';
Whereas at the Pittsburgh Summit of 2009, G20 nations ``designated the G20 to be 
        the premier forum for our international economic cooperation,'' and 
        agreed to work ``together to generate strong, sustainable and balanced 
        global growth'';
Whereas at the most recent Leaders' Summit of 2013, G20 nations reaffirmed their 
        commitment to tackle money laundering and terrorism financing, and to 
        intensify the fight against corruption which ``is corrosive, destroying 
        public trust, distorting the allocation of resources and undermining the 
        rule of law'';
Whereas the Republic of Argentina has consistently violated the spirit and 
        letter of these and other G20 declarations through its decision to 
        default on its debt for a second time after repeatedly refusing to 
        negotiate with its creditors, its open and repeated defiance of the 
        judgments of United States courts and personal attacks against a United 
        States Federal judge, its failure to comply with International Monetary 
        Fund membership requirements, its maintenance of stringent trade 
        barriers that hinder United States exports, its policy of expropriating 
        the property of foreign investors, and its failure to implement anti-
        money laundering and terrorist financing measures;
Whereas Standard & Poor's declared Argentina in default in July 2014 for the 
        second time in 13 years;
Whereas the Argentine Government has passed legislation to restructure its debt 
        beyond the reach of United States law to defy and directly contravene a 
        United States Federal court injunction;
Whereas a United States District Court Judge determined that the multiple 
        statements the Argentine Government issued asserting that the country 
        had not defaulted in July 2014 were ``false and misleading'', and 
        ordered Argentina to cease making such statements or risk being held in 
        contempt;
Whereas in response, Argentina launched a social media campaign attacking the 
        United States judiciary;
Whereas the Argentine Government has intimidated foreign owned businesses that 
        operate in Argentina;
Whereas the United States Government has determined that the trade restrictions 
        Argentina continues to maintain violate international trade rules and 
        substantially hinder the export of American goods to the Argentine 
        Republic;
Whereas since 2010, the Financial Action Task Force has classified Argentina as 
        a jurisdiction with strategic Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the 
        Financing of Terrorism deficiencies that pose a risk to the 
        international financial system; and
Whereas Argentina's actions have downgraded its credit rating and put the 
        economic future of its citizens at risk by contributing directly to 
        accelerated inflation in Argentina of nearly 40 percent, economic 
        stagnation, growing poverty, drastically reduced imports and foreign 
        direct investment, increasing isolation from the international 
        community, and borrowing costs nearly triple that of neighboring 
        countries that are much poorer than Argentina: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That--
            (1) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that 
        the Republic of Argentina has failed to meet the 
        responsibilities inherent to membership in the Group of Twenty 
        Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (G20); and
            (2) the House of Representatives calls upon the President 
        and the Secretary of the Treasury to work with the governments 
        of the G20 members to terminate the participation of Argentina 
        in the G20 until the President determines and reports to 
        Congress that Argentina has--
                    (A) ended its defiance of international norms of 
                economic relations; and
                    (B) reestablished its commitment to the rule of 
                law.
                                 <all>