of Treasury to make efforts to secure debt relief for Ukraine, and was passed by the House of Representatives on May 11, 2022, with overwhelming bipartisan support. (6) As a result of the war in Ukraine and other factors, in January 2024, the World Bank forecast that the world would experience the worst 5-year period of growth in 30 years. The external public debt of developing economies is at record levels, and the World Bank, IMF, and United Nations have all warned of coming defaults and a potential global debt crisis. Due to conflict, economic conditions, and environmental factors, the World Food Program estimates that 783,000,000 people are facing extreme hunger, and more than 333,000,000 people are facing acute levels of food insecurity. (7) Official data shows that the number of countries paying surcharges to the IMF has nearly tripled since 2019, and many more countries are estimated to have debt burdens near the threshold. (8) In a 2022 statement, dozens of former heads of state and government from across the political spectrum, including United States allies such as the United Kingdom and Ukraine, have called for the immediate suspension of IMF surcharges. (9) An April 2022 brief from the United Nations Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy, and Finance on the impacts of the war in Ukraine on developing countries called for the immediate suspension of surcharge payments for a minimum of 2 years, because [s]urcharges do not make sense during a global crisis since the need for more financing does not stem from national conditions but from the global economy shock . (10) In October 2023, International Monetary and Financial Committee Chair Nadia Calviño stated that the Fund will consider a review of surcharge policies . (11) According to Deputy Under Secretary for International Finance Brent Neiman, China became the world’s largest official creditor in 2017, surpassing the claims of the World Bank, IMF, and all Paris Club official creditors combined. . By dramatically increasing the cost of