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For Immediate Release
May, 15 2015, 10:30am EDT
Contact:
Sophia Har, Communications Director
sophia@jubileeusa.org / (o) (202) 783-3566 x101 (m) (651) 815-1818
Devastated Nepal Daily Pays $600,000 on Debt
WASHINGTON
According to the most recent public World Bank figures, Nepal pays $594,000 a day in debt payments as cited by the religious development organization, Jubilee USA Network. World Bank figures report that Nepal owes $3.8 billion in foreign debt and in 2013 paid $217 million in debt payments, or nearly $600,000 a day. Nepal was already one of the world's poorest countries, ranking 145th out of 187 countries listed on the United Nations Human Development Index, before an April 25th earthquake hit the country killing more than 8,000 people. On Tuesday another earthquake of 7.3 magnitude killed more than 100 additional people in the country.
"It's mind-blowing that one of the poorest countries in the world, struggling with earthquake recovery, pays $600,000 a day on debt," said Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA. "That's $4 million a week that could be going toward recovery and rebuilding."
As Nepal scrambles to rebuild before the approaching Monsoon Season, it finds itself in debt to the tune of $1.5 billion to the World Bank and another $1.5 billion to the Asian Development Bank. The country also owes $133 million to Japan and $101 million to China.
"The World Bank and Asian Development Bank must immediately cancel these debts," stated LeCompte, who serves on United Nations finance expert groups.
$54 million is owed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Nepal is one of 38 countries eligible for relief from the IMF's new Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCR). The IMF established the CCR during the Ebola epidemic to provide relief to the world's poorest countries after a natural disaster or during a health crisis. The IMF trust canceled $100 million in debt for Ebola-impacted West African countries. For an eligible country to qualify for relief, a natural disaster must impact one-third of the country's population and either destroy 25% of the nation's productive capacity or cause damage equivalent to the size of the country's economy. Nepal is likely to qualify for nearly $23 million from the IMF debt relief trust. Nepal owes the IMF $10 million in 2015 and nearly $13 million in 2016.
"This is exactly the situation the International Monetary Fund's new trust was created to address," noted LeCompte. "The money is there and it's important that Nepal get relief quickly."
Read more about Nepal debt relief.
Read more about the IMF's Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust.
Jubilee USA Network is an interfaith, non-profit alliance of religious, development and advocacy organizations. We are 75 U.S. institutions and more than 750 faith groups working across the United States and around the globe. We address the structural causes of poverty and inequality in our communities and countries around the world.
(202) 783-3566LATEST NEWS
Philadelphia Sues Over Trump's Removal of Slavery Exhibits From George Washington’s Home
"The message is clear. American history no longer includes all Americans."
Jan 23, 2026
The city of Philadelphia has sued the US Department of the Interior and the National Park Service after officials were filmed dismantling exhibits on slavery at the President's House historical site at Independence Park on Thursday.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court by the office of Mayor Cherelle Parker, says “the National Park Service has removed artwork and informational displays" from the site, where George Washington lived as president from 1790 until 1797, in order to follow an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in March, which requires national parks, museums, and monuments to portray an "uplifting" message about American history.
The President's House monument, unveiled in 2010, contained information about nine enslaved people whom Washington brought with him to the nation's "first White House," and Washington's history as a slaveowner. By the time of his death in 1799, there were more than 300 enslaved people at his estate in Mount Vernon, Virginia.
Information about the President's House site and its ties to slavery still remains online. It states:
Washington brought some of his enslaved Africans to this site and they lived and toiled with other members of his household during the years that our first president was guiding the experimental development of the young nation toward modern, republican government...
The president's house in the 1790s was a mirror of the young republic, reflecting both the ideals and contradictions of the new nation. The house stood in the shadow of Independence Hall, where the words "All men are created equal" and "We the People" were adopted, but they did not apply to all who lived in the new United States of America.
A monument acknowledging this history, however, appears to have run afoul of the portion of Trump's order requiring the Interior Secretary to see that sites "do not contain descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living."
As BillyPenn.com reported:
Starting after 3 pm, placards were ripped from the wall around the site with crowbars as people walked by, some heading to the Liberty Bell Center. Signs were unbolted from the poles overlooking the dig site where America’s first “White House” had stood until 1832. They were stacked together alongside a wall, and then taken away around 4:30 pm in a park service truck. No indication was provided where the signs and exhibition parts will go
One of the employees, who did not give his name, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that his supervisor had instructed him to take down the monuments earlier that day.
“I’m just following my orders,” the employee repeatedly said.
In a statement to the Washington Post, Interior Department spokesperson Elizabeth Peace later confirmed that the placards were indeed removed in accordance with the order.
"The president has directed federal agencies to review interpretive materials to ensure accuracy, honesty, and alignment with shared national values,” she said. “Following completion of the required review, the National Park Service is now taking action to remove or revise interpretive materials in accordance with the order."
The city of Philadelphia says it was not given notice about the placards being removed. The lawsuit says their removal was "arbitrary and capricious" and says the “defendants have provided no explanation at all for their removal of the historical, educational displays at the President’s House site, let alone a reasoned one."
In a Facebook post, criminal defense attorney Michael Coard, who pushed for the monument's creation for nearly a decade, called its destruction "historically outrageous and blatantly racist."
It is the latest example of Trump's order being used to justify the removal of monuments related to slavery and Black history in the United States.
The infamous 1863 "Scourged Back" image—a picture of an enslaved man's back with severe whip scars that was used to promote the end of slavery during the Civil War—was removed from the Fort Pulaski National Monument in Georgia in September, along with other information about slavery.
The administration has also removed more than 20 displays at the Smithsonian Museum of American History, some of which dealt with slavery, civil rights, and race relations, a move that came after Trump lamented that the museum put so much focus on "how bad Slavery was."
The National Park Service also deleted information about abolitionist activist Harriet Tubman and many references to slavery from its webpage about the Underground Railroad for months last year, before restoring it following public backlash.
Pages on the Arlington Cemetery website that recognize the contributions of Black and Hispanic soldiers have also been removed.
The order has also led to the removal or alteration of numerous monuments, museum exhibits, and web pages recognizing the achievements or struggles of other racial minority groups, women, LGBTQ+ people, and Native Americans.
In a statement to NBC News, Philadelphia City Council President Kenyatta Johnson said, "Removing the exhibits is an effort to whitewash American history."
"History cannot be erased simply because it is uncomfortable," he added. "Removing items from the President’s House merely changes the landscape, not the historical record."
Daniel Pearson, a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, said: "The message is clear. American history no longer includes all Americans."
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Insurance CEO Testimony ‘Made Case for Medicare for All Better Than Almost Anyone'
"Under Medicare for All, these insurance vultures who profit from the suffering of everyday Americans would all be out of a job—bringing down costs across the health system—which should be reason enough to support it," said one advocate.
Jan 23, 2026
If you want a compelling case for Medicare for All, just listen to the ultra-rich CEOs of the insurance companies profiting off the United States' disastrous for-profit status quo.
That was Public Citizen healthcare policy advocate Eagan Kemp's takeaway from congressional testimony delivered Thursday by the top executives of UnitedHealth Group, Cigna, Aetna owner CVS Health, Elevance, and Ascendiun, some of the largest beneficiaries of a system under which millions of Americans face massive costs, care denials, and labyrinthine administrative hurdles.
"In both of today’s House hearings, health insurance executives’ devil-may-care attitude towards Americans’ health made the case for Medicare for All better than almost anyone I have ever seen," Kemp said in a statement following the hearings held by the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee's healthcare panel.
"Rarely has there been a more feckless, uncaring, and unsympathetic group of paper pushers," said Kemp. "Under Medicare for All, these insurance vultures who profit from the suffering of everyday Americans would all be out of a job—bringing down costs across the health system—which should be reason enough to support it. We need Medicare for All to finally put us on par with every other comparably wealthy country by guaranteeing everyone in the U.S. can get the health care they need, throughout their lives."
The executives faced angry grilling from both Democrats and Republicans during Thursday's hearings, which came as health insurance premiums are skyrocketing due to the GOP's refusal to extend Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies that lapsed at the end of 2025.
"Do you understand why the American people are not a fan of UnitedHealthcare and big healthcare companies?" Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.) asked UnitedHealth Group CEO Stephen Hemsley, telling the story of a 3-year-old girl whose family was forced to take on more than $1 million in medical debt and declare bankruptcy because the insurance giant would not cover doctors' recommended treatment for a tumor in her bladder.
Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC), who recently underwent brain surgery, told the insurance executives that he faced eight care denials for necessary medication.
"You have put profits above patients, and you have put profits above those who care for patients," said Murphy, a physician. "If it were up to me, I would throw out all for-profit systems in this country and turn everybody into nonprofit. It has gotten that bad."
"If I had my way, I'd turn all of you guys into dust," he added. "We'd start back from scratch."
The @WaysandMeansGOP held a hearing on the impact of rising health care costs on patients and families.
We have to have serious reform of health insurers, pharmacy benefit managers, and their subsidiaries to reduce the cost of healthcare. pic.twitter.com/pQEE4WgQtk
— Congressman Greg Murphy, M.D. (@RepGregMurphy) January 22, 2026
The insurance executives attempted to shift the blame for high costs and other systemic issues onto hospitals, doctors, and pharmaceutical companies, while offering Band-Aid solutions.
UnitedHealth Group's CEO pledged during his testimony to return its 2026 Affordable Care Act profits to consumers in the form of rebates.
"If you’re feeling a little misty-eyed about this sudden burst of corporate altruism, let me save you the trouble. This isn’t a moral awakening. It’s a PR maneuver and narrative control being implemented in real-time," said Wendell Potter, a former health insurance executive who now supports Medicare for All, which would virtually eliminate private insurance and provide comprehensive health coverage for everyone in the US for free at the point of service, for a lower overall cost than the for-profit status quo.
"UnitedHealth’s pledge is just a long, desperate PR pass into the end zone, praying lawmakers and reporters will focus on the gesture instead of the business model that allows them to gobble up those dollars in the first place," Potter added. "This isn’t a gift. It’s a distraction."
Kemp of Public Citizen said Thursday that “in the short term, the Senate must pass a clean three-year extension of the enhanced ACA premium tax credits to address runaway premium increases for millions of Americans."
"In the long run," he added, "we must continue building the movement that will pass Medicare for All and make it the law of the land."
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It Would Be a ‘Mistake’ for Dems to Assume Trump Won't Try to Subvert 2026 Elections: Experts
"What are the remaining checks? Every check is gone."
Jan 23, 2026
While polling currently indicates that Democrats are well positioned to retake the US House of Representatives in the 2026 midterms, experts are warning that this year's elections may be neither free nor fair.
In a column published by the Guardian on Friday, Amherst College political scientist Austin Sarat pointed to a recent New York Times interview in which President Donald Trump said he regretted not ordering the US military to seize voting machines after losing the 2020 presidential election.
Sarat said Trump's musings about having the military interfere in the electoral process should be taken "seriously," but so far he's seen little evidence that Democrats are preparing for such a possibility.
The political scientist also flagged reporting from the Washington Post two weeks ago revealing that Trump "is using every tool he can find to try to influence the 2026 midterm elections and, if his party loses, sow doubt in their validity."
Furthermore, Sarat argued that these plans are not a hidden secret but have been sketched out as part of Project 2025, the far-right policy blueprint drawn up by the Heritage Foundation in 2022.
Among other things, wrote Sarat, Project 2025 featured proposals "to transfer the responsibility for investigating and prosecuting election crimes to the Department of Justice’s criminal division" and "to withdraw from arrangements that in the past have helped election officials do their jobs."
Sarat concluded that "Democrats are making a mistake by underestimating the likelihood that, for all the artful campaigning and the many unpopular things they can pin on Republicans, none of that will matter."
"They, and all the rest of us, must mobilize to avoid that result," he added. "We have no time to waste."
Dmitri Mehlhorn, a former Democratic strategist, said in an interview with the Atlantic published Thursday that he similarly feels Democrats are completely unprepared for what is to come in both the 2026 and 2028 elections, especially since Trump has already shown himself willing to go to extreme lengths to maintain power.
"If the president has proven in his first term that he will ignore subpoenas and ignore congressional budget authorizations and pardon anybody who also does, then suddenly, there’s no power," Mehlhorn explained. "What are the remaining checks? Every check is gone."
According to the Atlantic, Mehlhorn believes that federal law enforcement officials are going to follow Trump's orders, no matter how flagrantly illegal, and that Democratic-run states are going to have to consider radical deterrence strategies, including "threats of federal-tax boycotts, an expansive embrace of states’ rights," and "a new understanding of the importance of gun ownership."
Another potential risk to US election integrity not mentioned by Sarat or Mehlhorn is the danger of targeted propaganda being pumped out at an unprecedented pace using artificial intelligence (AI).
As reported by Wired on Thursday, new research has found that a single person can now use AI tools to deploy "'swarms' of thousands of social media accounts, capable not only of crafting unique posts indistinguishable from human content, but of evolving independently and in real time—all without constant human oversight."
Lukasz Olejnik, a visiting senior research fellow at King’s College London's Department of War Studies, told Wired that targeting "chosen individuals or communities is going to be much easier and powerful" thanks to AI.
"This is an extremely challenging environment for a democratic society," Olejnik added. "We're in big trouble.”
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