Rep. McMorris Rodgers & IMF Director Lagarde to Meet on Wednesday

Press Release

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Vice Chair of the House Republican Conference, is scheduled to meet with IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde on Wednesday, December 14. This will be the first meeting between Madame Lagarde -- who assumed the IMF's top position in July -- and Rep. McMorris Rodgers, Congress' leading opponent of U.S. participation through the IMF in the $1.3 trillion European bailout fund.

In advance of the meeting, Rep. McMorris Rodgers released the following statement:

"I am looking forward to Wednesday's meeting with Madame Lagarde because it will be a unique opportunity to hear directly from the IMF Director herself about how we can increase transparency and accountability at the IMF, evaluate the effectiveness of the IMF's involvement in the European bailouts, and in light of the perilous situation in Europe, whether or not there's an expectation that America will expand its IMF funding to continue these bailouts. I, for one, believe that America would best serve our European allies by abstaining from these bailouts because it would help enforce the spending and borrowing discipline that both Europe and America need."

Rep. McMorris Rodgers is the author of H.R. 2313 which would rescind the IMF's authority to spend up to $108 billion of U.S. taxpayer money that is currently available to fund the European bailouts. In the last two weeks, the number of cosponsors of the bill has grown from 22 to 83.

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