Senator Kennedy battles Janet Yellen on helping China, Russia with $1 trillion SDR

The IMF intends on creating a new allocation of “special drawing rights”, or SDRs, with the aim of providing foreign aid. During a Senate hearing this week, Senator John Kennedy questioned Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on where the money will come from, and how the fund is going to be allocated. “You say you want to help poor countries, but you and I both know that only about 10% of that money is going to go to poor countries. It’s not going to help poor countries. You know who it’s going to help? If they cash in their SDRs? It’s going to help China, it’s going to help Russia, it’s going to help Venezuela,” Kennedy said to Yellen. Kennedy also said that this plan will cost American taxpayers $180 billion, a claim that Yellen refuted. “There are many countries that can provide hard currencies in return for SDRs, including the United States. If the United States does agree to provide SDRs it will have to issue Treasury bills…but it will also earn interest on any amounts that it converts on behalf of othe