U.S. House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill used the Committee’s annual hearing on the international financial system with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to press for a “back-to-basics” U.S. posture toward the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and multilateral development banks, arguing they have drifted from their core missions. Hill criticised IMF initiatives on climate change and social policy and called for scrapping the Resilience and Sustainability Facility in favour of focusing on the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust. He also argued that any future allocation of Special Drawing Rights should require elected lawmakers’ approval, citing the 2021 allocation that provided China with over USD 40 billion in unconditional liquidity, Russia with USD 17 billion, and about USD 5 billion each to Iran and Venezuela. On the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, he said they still approve around USD 1 billion per year for projects in China and urged the Trump Administration to end all assistance to China by the end of President Trump’s term, while welcoming recent openness to financing nuclear energy and calling for renewed emphasis on public health, education and infrastructure.