Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently argued that the United States must play a bigger role in global multinational organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, not a smaller role. He’s right, and Congress needs to join in this effort.

For several years, the IMF has acted more like a social justice fan club than a financial institution. It has strayed far from its original mission of promoting global monetary cooperation and economic stability by focusing on gender issues and climate change.

However, the problems at the IMF extend well beyond a failure to adhere to its mission. By making irresponsible lending decisions, the IMF has actively facilitated global instability by doling out billions of dollars to countries that promote terrorism and genocide.

In 2021, the IMF made a distribution to each of its 190 member countries valued at $650 billion. These cash dividends, known as Special Drawing Rights, are technically loans, but the interest is negligible and countries rarely pay back the money.

Given that the U.S. is the IMF’s single largest financial contributor, this allocation was essentially a handout funded by American taxpayers to many countries that hate us. China received a roughly $38.3 billion dividend, Russia collected $16.2 billion, and Iran raked in $4.5 billion.

Unsurprisingly, these countries did not use the money to promote world peace.

Instead, China continued to torment Taiwan and oppress the Uyghur people. Russia invaded Ukraine and triggered a years-long war that has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of young people. Iran plotted with Hamas to unleash the most horrific attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

The IMF could fund this global chaos only because President Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen let it happen. They signed off on the Special Drawing Rights allocation. Ms. Yellen specifically approved the allocation of $650 billion because it was just below the financial threshold at which Congress would need to provide approval.

The Biden administration supported the IMF’s transition from a financial institution to a gender and climate advocacy organization. It also looked the other way as America’s adversaries took advantage of the IMF’s handout to spread misery around the world.

Mr. Bessent is right. The IMF needs more of America’s influence, not less. That means Congress needs the power to veto IMF distributions that run contrary to America’s interests.

I introduced the No Dollars for Dictators Act to require congressional approval before a single penny’s worth of funding from the IMF goes to perpetrators of genocide or state sponsors of terrorism. Congress cannot sit on the sidelines while American tax dollars pour into the pockets of terrorists and dictators.

The Biden administration showed the world what chaos can unfold when the U.S. fails to put its interests first. The Trump administration is right to remind the IMF and organizations like it that America’s interests will not take a back seat to the whims of activists.