22 U.S.C. § 262p–17 — Support for international initiatives to provide debt restructuring or relief to developing countries with unsustainable levels of debt

(a) Debt relief The Treasury Secretary, working with the Secretary of State, must: (1) Work with international financial institutions, the G20, and official and commercial lenders to support prompt, effective use and improvement of the Common Framework for Debt Treatments beyond the DSSI (called the "Common Framework" here), or any similar coordinated debt process the U.S. takes part in. This means pushing for clear, accountable standards such as: (A) debt-treatment benchmarks so each debtor country reaches a sustainable debt level; (B) fair burden-sharing standards among all lenders with claims on a debtor country, whether official, private, or mixed; (C) strong debt disclosure by lenders — including China — and by debtor countries, including sharing data between lenders and, where practical, publishing the material terms of claims; (D) expanding which countries can use the Common Framework to include lower middle-income countries that otherwise qualify; (E) improving the Common Framework process so eligible countries get debt relief in a timely way; and (F) consistently enforcing and improving multilateral rules on asset-based and revenue-based borrowing by debtor countries, plus coordinated standards for restructuring collateralized debt. (2) Work with international financial institutions and official and commercial lenders to support debt restructuring or relief for individual debtor countries, as the Secretary sees fit — including, case by case, a pause on debt payments if the debtor country asks for it through the Common Framework process. This pause can run from when the country reaches a staff-level agreement with the IMF until it signs a memorandum of understanding with its creditor committee under the Common Framework or a similar process. (3) Direct the U.S. representatives at the IMF and World Bank to use America's voice and vote to advance the efforts in (1) and (2). (b) Reporting requirement Within 120 days after December 23, 2022, and every year after that, the Treasury Secretary, working with the State Department, must report to the Senate Banking and Foreign Relations Committees and the House Financial Services and Foreign Affairs Committees. The report must cover: (1) What actions official lenders — including China's government and its state-owned companies — and relevant commercial lender groups have taken, working with international financial institutions, to advance debt restructuring or relief for countries with unsustainable debt seeking help under the Common Framework or any similar process; (2) Any problems blocking the Common Framework from delivering timely debt relief to a country that needs it, including any lender refusing to share the burden fairly, such as by not sharing or publishing the information needed to judge whether the debt is sustainable; and (3) Recommendations for fixing the problems identified in (2).