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A coalition of advocacy groups is pressuring Congress to pass a bill that would help end so-called “Vulture Fund” profiteering at the expense of impoverished nations. Vulture Funds are a label for a specialized type of hedge funds or private investment companies that buy on-the-cheap the outstanding debts of poor nations owed to other governments or commercial enterprises. The companies then turn around and sue the debtor state for up to ten-times the original amount owed, apply aggressive political pressure, or even seize national assets. The World Bank, IMF and members of the US Congress have condemned the practice. Recently, New York-based investors FG Hemisphere sued the Democratic Republic of Congo for $105 million, three times the $30 million debt incurred by then-dictator Mobutu in 1980. The Stop Vulture Funds Act, introduced into the House by Representative Maxine Waters of California and co-sponsored by 11 others representatives, would prohibit such profiteering in the US and prevent US courts from housing lawsuits against indebted nations. Fifty organizations, including the NAACP and the American Jewish World Service, say passage of the bill is necessary in order to uphold the progress that has been made by international efforts at alleviating debt for the poorest of countries.

GUEST: Michael Stulman, Associate Director for Policy and Communications at Africa Action