Washington, DC - Today the Financial Services Subcommittee on International Monetary Policy passed two amendments
offered by Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA) - one to require the Secretary of the Treasury to disapprove any multi lateral
development bank loan that does not follow the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams and the other to increase outreach and the number of loans at the Export-Import Bank to women and minority-owned businesses.

The first amendment was offered to H.R. 2604, a bill to re-authorize multilateral development banks, including the Asian and
African Development Banks. Representative Lee offered this amendment at the request of the Berkeley-based International
Rivers Network. The Lee amendment, which was also supported by a number of other environmental and social justice
organizations, requires that any multilateral development bank loan approved by the Secretary of the Treasury follow the
recommendations of the World Commission on Dams. The WCD recommendations were released in November 2000 and state that assessments of the impact on the community must be made before a project is approved; that local people should have a voice in these projects; and that reviews should be conducted on dam safety and recommissioning.

Lee said, "I am pleased that my amendment on the World Commission on Dams recommendation was unanimously accepted
by the subcommittee. In light of the WCD recommendations, which show that indigenous people are often displaced, that
women are affected worse than men, and that HIV/AIDS rates can rise in these areas where dams are built, the U.S. government has a responsibility to disapprove any multi-lateral loan application that would further exasperate these very serious problems."

Representative Lee offered an amendment, which also passed unanimously, to H.R. 2871, the Export-Import Bank
Re-authorization Act. This provision, which she offered with Representative Mel Watt (D-NC), requires the Export-Import Bank to place a particular focus on outreach to women and minority-owned businesses to ensure that they can secure these loans for their export activities. Currently, the Export-Import Bank only provides less than ½ of 1% of its loans to women and
minority-owned businesses. The Lee-Watt amendment also strongly encourages the Bank to increase the number of loans to
these firms.

Said Lee, "Women and minority-owned firms deserve to have access to Export-Import Bank loans so that they can continue to grow their businesses, which contribute so greatly to our economy. Women and minority-owned firms are the fastest-growing in the U.S. At a time when we are seeing our budget surplus shrink and our trade deficit grow, expanding the number of Export-Import Bank loans to women and minority-owned businesses is vital to our global economy."

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