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WASHINGTON — Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), CPC Vice Chair and House Financial Services Committee member Representative Jesús “Chuy” García (IL-04), and House Foreign Affairs Committee member Sara Jacobs (CA-53) led four dozen members of Congress in calling on the Biden administration to urgently reverse U.S. policies contributing to imminent mass starvation and the current economic collapse of Afghanistan. 

In a letter addressed to the President and senior Treasury Department officials, the lawmakers emphasized their support for his decision to withdraw troops from the country, but urged that the new phase of the U.S.-Afghan relationship must avoid harsh economic measures that will directly cause loss of life and other harm to Afghan families and children. Specifically, they urge “conscientiously but urgently modifying current U.S. policy regarding the freeze of Afghanistan's foreign reserves and ongoing sanctions.” They write, “We fear, as aid groups do, that maintaining this policy could cause more civilian deaths in the coming year than were lost in 20 years of war.”

Citing United Nations estimates that 1 million Afghan children are at risk of starving to death, the members of Congress note that the U.S. freeze of $9.4 billion in Afghanistan’s foreign reserves in August, along with the imposition of broad economic sanctions, are driving “soaring inflation and the shuttering of commercial banks and vital private businesses, plunging the country — which relies overwhelmingly on imports that require hard currency — deeper into economic and humanitarian crisis.” Similarly, they note that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has denied Afghanistan access to special reserve assets intended to help developing countries alleviate the impact of the pandemic.

The consequences of these policies for the Afghan people have been immediate and catastrophic. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has warned that “after decades of war, suffering and insecurity, [Afghans] face perhaps their most perilous hour,” imploring countries “to take action and inject liquidity into the Afghan economy to avoid collapse.” World Food Programme surveys indicate that 95 percent of Afghan households are not consuming enough food. The United Nations Development Program reports that Afghanistan will face “universal poverty by the middle of next year,” with the poverty rate expected to rise from 72 percent to as high as 98 percent. Afghanistan’s economic pain and humanitarian collapse both threaten to trigger a new refugee crisis throughout the region.

“No increase in food and medical aid can compensate for the macroeconomic harm of soaring prices of basic commodities, a banking collapse, a balance-of-payments crisis, a freeze on civil servants’ salaries, and other severe consequences that are rippling throughout Afghan society, harming the most vulnerable,” write the lawmakers. “We deplore the new Taliban government’s grave human rights abuses, crackdowns on civil society and repression of women and LGBTQ people. However, pragmatic U.S. engagement with the de facto authorities is nevertheless key to averting unprecedented harm to tens of millions of women, children and innocent civilians. Punitive economic policies will not weaken Taliban leaders, who will be shielded from the direct consequences, while the overwhelming impact of these measures will fall on innocent Afghans who have already suffered decades of war and poverty.”

The lawmakers note that engagement with the Taliban to coordinate central bank access to urgently needed hard currency can provide the necessary leverage to secure human rights improvements, and that a failure to avert economic catastrophe in Afghanistan creates risks to U.S. national security, by deterring Taliban cooperation on counterterrorism efforts, fueling anti-American resentment, and creating ungoverned spaces fertile for militant groups to seize. “U.S. economic policy should not undermine the national-security imperative of seeking stability in Afghanistan, and instead should minimize the risk of threats emanating from the country,” the lawmakers conclude. “We stand ready to work closely with you as you expeditiously review current U.S. policy in light of the extraordinary economic and humanitarian risks confronting the people of Afghanistan.” 

Representatives Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Jesús “Chuy” García (IL-04), and Sara Jacobs (CA-53) were joined by Representatives Alma Adams (NC-12), Karen Bass (CA-37), Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01), Donald S. Beyer Jr. (VA-08), Jamaal Bowman, Ed.D (NY-16), Earl Blumenauer (OR-03), Cori Bush (MO-01), Tony Cárdenas (CA-29), André Carson (IN-07), Judy Chu (CA-27), Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), Danny K. Davis (IL-07), Peter A. DeFazio (OR-04), Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11), Debbie Dingell (MI-12), Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Teresa Leger Fernández (NM-03), Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), Al Green (TX-09), Jared Huffman (CA-02), Henry C. “Hank” Johnson (GA-04), Mondaire Jones (NY-17), Kaiali’i Kahele (HI-02), Ro Khanna (CA-17), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), Andy Levin (MI-09), Alan Lowenthal (CA-47), Betty McCollum (MN-04), James P. McGovern (MA-02), Grace Meng (NY-06), Marie Newman (IL-03), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Chellie Pingree (ME-01), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Katie Porter (CA-45), Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Jamie Raskin (MD-08), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Mark Takano (CA-41), Rashida Tlaib (MI-13), Juan Vargas (CA-51), and Nydia Velázquez (NY-07).

WASHINGTON — Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and Representatives Nanette Barragán (CA-44), CPC Chair Emeritus Raúl Grijalva (AZ-03), Jared Huffman (CA-02), CPC Deputy Whip Ro Khanna (CA-17), and CPC Whip Ilhan Omar (MN-05), issued the following statement in response to news of industry-led efforts to undercut the Build Back Better Act’s policies to reduce carbon emissions driving the climate crisis:

“The Build Back Better Act has rightfully been touted as the largest-ever federal investment in climate action. But to meet this moment, Congress needs to be concerned not only about quantity, but quality. If the Senate eliminates every mechanism in this bill designed to push polluters into a clean energy future, we simply will never get there — and that is unacceptable. Today, we urge the Senate to resist the fossil fuel industry’s efforts to remove basic guardrails on the tax credits for carbon sequestration.

“The House-passed version of Build Back Better requires fossil fuel emitting plants to store 75 percent or more of their carbon pollution — an eminently reasonable requirement, as the fossil fuel industry itself touts carbon capture’s ability to achieve a 90 percent sequestration rate. But now, special interest groups are pushing our Senate colleagues to remove the requirement altogether, and provide a no-strings-attached taxpayer handout to the biggest polluters. For Congress to pass such a policy — especially as the South and Midwest are still recovering from the latest climate change fueled disaster — would be an insult to basic tax fairness and to every member of our communities demanding environmental justice. It’s simple: a bill that aims to tackle climate change and rapidly decarbonize our economy cannot include gifts for polluters.

“President Biden has demonstrated leadership on the world stage in making the ambitious, yet necessary, commitment that the United States will halve its carbon emissions from 2005 levels by 2030. In order to meet that mandate, our colleagues must oppose any efforts to remove the limited guardrails that currently exist on carbon sequestration subsidies and  protect our national effort to rapidly transition to solar, wind, and other renewable energies. As the Senate debates the Build Back Better Act, this House-passed legislation’s promise to address climate change at the scope of the crisis, and deliver on the President’s transformational vision, must not be weakened.”

WASHINGTON — Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, issued the following statement regarding the conclusion of Honduras’ recent presidential election:  

“I congratulate Xiomara Castro de Zelaya for being elected the next president of Honduras, the first woman ever to hold the nation’s highest office. I also commend the Honduran people for their historic level of participation in these elections. These elections promise a return to democracy and a revitalization of Honduran institutions, which have deteriorated since the 2009 military coup that resulted in the democratically elected president at the time — Manuel Zelaya, Mrs. Castro de Zelaya’s husband — being forced out of the country at gunpoint.

“Immediately following Zelaya’s unconstitutional ouster, members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus mobilized to denounce the overthrow as a military coup and call for the reinstatement of the elected president. Over the 12 years since, Progressive Caucus leaders have organized and protested against the brutal repression, autocratic governance, violations of human rights, and murders of labor organizers, human rights activists, environmental defenders, journalists, and Afro-Indigenous leaders under Honduras’ post-coup regimes. The Progressive Caucus has also been at the forefront of demanding a change in U.S. policy, including an end to U.S. weapons and training for Honduras’ repressive security forces until real efforts have been made to end impunity and restore the rule of law. 

“Today, we encourage the Biden administration to use this opportunity to make a clean break with previous presidential administrations, which worked to ensure that the 2009 coup d’état succeeded, legitimized the deeply flawed elections in 2009, 2013, and 2017, and pushed policies that have resulted in surges in Honduran insecurity, poverty, mass migration, and organized crime. In light of our shared interest in greater regional stability and prosperity, the election of Xiomara Castro presents an opportunity for a new chapter in U.S.-Honduras relations, one based on mutual respect, support for democracy, and equitable development.”

WASHINGTON — The chairs of the Congressional Progressive, Black, Hispanic, and Asian Pacific American Caucuses jointly urged the Treasury Department today to support House Democrats’ recent approval of a new issuance of urgently needed financial assistance through the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) would help hundreds of millions of people in developing countries still suffering from the ongoing effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

SDRs, which are reserve assets issued by the IMF to all member states, cost nothing to U.S. taxpayers and allow developing countries to stabilize their economies and invest in social and public health needs. SDRs can be converted into hard currency by low-income countries to purchase essential goods such as food, vaccines, energy supplies, medical equipment, and lifesaving drugs. They can also help reduce low- and middle-income countries’ borrowing costs, minimize capital flight, and avoid balance-of-payments and debt crises. With the Biden Administration’s support, the IMF issued 456 billion SDRs earlier this year, with many of the most vulnerable countries in the world being among the first to take advantage of them. The House of Representatives approved an additional issuance of 1.5 trillion SDRs in the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill in July.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus; Rep. Joyce Beatty (OH-03), chair of the Congressional Black Caucus; Rep. Raul Ruiz (CA-36), chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus; and Rep. Judy Chu (CA-27), chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, were joined by Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García (IL-04), author of the Robust International Response to Pandemic Act, which served as the basis of legislation adopted by the House.

In a letter sent to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen today, the lawmakers wrote, “As President Biden observed, ‘one thing we learned’ from the 2009 economic recovery is that ‘we can’t do too much here. We can do too little. We can do too little and sputter.’ A one-time allocation of SDRs may be too little given the continuing upsurges in COVID19 infections worldwide. By further boosting global demand for U.S. exports, assisting in a worldwide economic recovery, easing major spikes in hunger, poverty and disease, and providing financial resources for mass vaccinations abroad at no cost to the United States, a new issuance of 1.5 trillion SDRs remains a vital tool for this administration’s efforts to crush the coronavirus and build back better, both at home and abroad.”

The members of Congress praised the Biden Administration for “ending the previous administration’s virtually solitary opposition” to the IMF’s issuance of SDRs, as well as the Biden administration’s moves to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord and the World Health Organization, as examples that “the United States is once again playing a leadership role in multilateral efforts to solve global crises.”

The lawmakers expressed concern that “highly unequal vaccine access has led to just 20 percent of people in low- and lower-middle-income countries receiving a first vaccine dose compared to 80 percent in higher-income countries.” In addition, the lawmakers point to the fact that “as many as 161 million more people faced hunger in 2020 than in 2019.” Major global setbacks in the fight against tuberculosis, HIV, and malaria, they add, “pose a risk to the economic strength, national security, and public health of the United States.” The members of Congress conclude by asking for Secretary Yellen’s support in enacting House legislation to issue additional SDRs “to resolve the global pandemic, accelerate America’s economic recovery, and save millions of lives worldwide.”

The letter to Secretary Yellen builds on a previous joint effort in 2020 that succeeded in securing House passage of legislation authorizing a major SDR issuance in the 116th Congress. The chairs of the Congressional Progressive, Black, Hispanic, and Asian Pacific American Caucuses have also been joined by prominent Democratic Senators and former Republican Senator Sam Brownback (KS) this year in advocating for the issuance of additional SDRs to alleviate global poverty.