Meet with your representative about the JUBILEE Act

We encourage you to contact members of Congress to support the JUBILEE Act while your Members are in the district for August recess. The JUBILEE Act (H.R. 1130) expresses a much broader vision for debt cancellation than the deal reached at the 2005 G-8 summit. We need to send the message that the G-8 deal was only the first step on a long journey toward global economic justice. Unlike the G-8 agreement, the JUBILEE Act would commit the U.S. to work for debt cancellation for 50 impoverished nations without devastating economic conditions. Moreover, the Act requires that debt cancellation be paid for from the IMF/World Bank’s own resources.

Please call, write or meet with your Member of Congress (MOC) and ask him or her to co-sponsor the Act. To co-sponsor the bill the Member’s staff should call Kathleen Sengstock in Representative Maxine Waters’ office at (202) 225-2201. If your Representative has already co-sponsored the bill, please call to thank them. Click here to find out who is already a co-sponsor.

Don’t know who your Representative is?
Go to www.house.gov and enter your zip code to find out. To contact your Representative, call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. After you are connected with your Representative’s office, ask to speak to the staff person who handles the IMF, World Bank, and international debt issues.

Please contact your Representative today!
Click here for sample talking points. Click here for tips on contacting congress.

What is the JUBILEE Act?
Representatives Waters (D-CA), Leach (R-IA), Frank (D-MA), Bachus (R-AL), Lee (D-CA), and Maloney (D-NY) re-introduced the JUBILEE Act (H.R. 1130) on March 3, 2005. The JUBILEE Act is groundbreaking legislation that would require the U.S. Treasury Department to work in appropriate multilateral settings to achieve 100 percent cancellation of the debts of 50 nations by international financial institutions. Debt cancellation will free up desperately needed resources for impoverished nations to fight HIV/AIDS, fund education, and provide clean water to their people. The bill urges that debt cancellation be funded through the international financial institutions’ own resources and that it comes without harmful economic conditions attached.

See the JUBILEE Act Summary and JUBILEE Act FAQ for more information on how the JUBILEE Act goes beyond the G-8 debt deal.

Background: A Critical Moment on Debt!
The 2005 G-8 debt cancellation agreement resulted from the public outcry against the growing global poverty gap. Debt cancellation is desperately needed – in 2005 alone three million people in Africa died due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Yet countries on the African continent still send an estimated $15 billion in debt service to the IMF, World Bank, and wealthy creditor nations each year. It is urgent that debt cancellation be extended to all African countries, along with every other impoverished nation. This is a critical moment in the campaign for debt cancellation. And the JUBILEE Act is a critical vehicle to help us to achieve our goal.

In order to pass the JUBILEE Act, we need additional Congressional co-sponsors to join the 82 current co-sponsors. The more co-sponsors we have, the sooner the bill will be brought to a vote on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Meet with your Representative!
In addition to calling your representative’s office in Washington, DC, you can also meet with your Representative or a key staff member. Call the district office (the phone number can be found on the House of Representative’s web site), and explain that you and a group of other concerned constituents are interested in meeting with the Representative about the JUBILEE Act. Members are easier to meet with when they are home in their district in August. Try to gather a group of influential members of your community, like religious or business leaders to make the visit with you. If you can’t make an appointment with your Member directly, ask for the chief of staff in the district office. At the meeting, express that you would like for your concerns to be shared with the Representative. Ask that the Representative co-sponsor the bill and set a date to follow up with the staff person regarding whether the Representative intends to sign onto the bill as a co-sponsor.

More Information
Summary and FAQ  [Download PDF]
A Copy of the Bill
Members of Congress Discuss the JUBILEE Act
Country Debt Sheets
Co-sponsors from the 109th Congress

For more information on the JUBILEE Act, contact Debayani Kar at 202-783-0215 or debi(at)jubileeusa.org.