Home > 106th Congressional Bills > H.R. 1143 (ih) To establish a program to provide assistance for programs of credit and other financial services for microenterprises in developing countries, and for other purposes. [Introduced in House] ...H.R. 1143 (ih) To establish a program to provide assistance for programs of credit and other financial services for microenterprises in developing countries, and for other purposes. [Introduced in House] ...
H.R.1143
One Hundred Sixth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday,
the twenty-fourth day of January, two thousand
An Act
To establish a program to provide assistance for programs of credit and
other financial services for microenterprises in developing countries,
and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Microenterprise for Self-Reliance
and International Anti-Corruption Act of 2000''.
SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS.
The table of contents for this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title.
Sec. 2. Table of contents.
TITLE I--MICROENTERPRISE FOR SELF-RELIANCE ACT OF 2000
Sec. 101. Short title.
Sec. 102. Findings and declarations of policy.
Sec. 103. Purposes.
Sec. 104. Definitions.
Sec. 105. Microenterprise development grant assistance.
Sec. 106. Micro- and small enterprise development credits.
Sec. 107. United States Microfinance Loan Facility.
Sec. 108. Report relating to future development of microenterprise
institutions.
Sec. 109. United States Agency for International Development as global
leader and coordinator of bilateral and multilateral
microenterprise assistance
activities.
Sec. 110. Sense of the Congress on consideration of Mexico as a key
priority in microenterprise funding allocations.
TITLE II--INTERNATIONAL ANTI-CORRUPTION AND GOOD GOVERNANCE ACT OF 2000
Sec. 201. Short title.
Sec. 202. Findings and purpose.
Sec. 203. Development assistance policy.
Sec. 204. Department of the Treasury technical assistance program for
developing countries.
Sec. 205. Authorization of good governance programs.
TITLE III--INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC OPPORTUNITY ACT OF 2000
Sec. 301. Short title.
Sec. 302. Statement of purpose.
Sec. 303. Establishment of grant program for foreign study by American
college students of limited financial means.
Sec. 304. Report to Congress.
Sec. 305. Authorization of appropriations.
Sec. 306. Effective date.
TITLE IV--MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
Sec. 401. Support for Overseas Cooperative Development Act.
Sec. 402. Funding of certain environmental assistance activities of
USAID.
Sec. 403. Processing of applications for transportation of humanitarian
assistance abroad by the Department of Defense.
Sec. 404. Working capital fund.
Sec. 405. Increase in authorized number of employees and representatives
of the United States mission to the United Nations provided
living quarters in New York.
Sec. 406. Availability of VOA and Radio Marti multilingual computer
readable text and voice recordings.
Sec. 407. Availability of certain materials of the Voice of America.
Sec. 408. Paul D. Coverdell Fellows Program Act of 2000.
TITLE I--MICROENTERPRISE FOR SELF-RELIANCE ACT OF 2000
SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE.
This title may be cited as the ``Microenterprise for Self-Reliance
Act of 2000''.
SEC. 102. FINDINGS AND DECLARATIONS OF POLICY.
Congress makes the following findings and declarations:
(1) According to the World Bank, more than 1,200,000,000 people
in the developing world, or one-fifth of the world's population,
subsist on less than $1 a day.
(2) Over 32,000 of their children die each day from largely
preventable malnutrition and disease.
(3)(A) Women in poverty generally have larger work loads and
less access to educational and economic opportunities than their
male counterparts.
(B) Directly aiding the poorest of the poor, especially women,
in the developing world has a positive effect not only on family
incomes, but also on child nutrition, health and education, as
women in particular reinvest income in their families.
(4)(A) The poor in the developing world, particularly women,
generally lack stable employment and social safety nets.
(B) Many turn to self-employment to generate a substantial
portion of their livelihood. In Africa, over 80 percent of
employment is generated in the informal sector of the self-employed
poor.
(C) These poor entrepreneurs are often trapped in poverty
because they cannot obtain credit at reasonable rates to build
their asset base or expand their otherwise viable self-employment
activities.
(D) Many of the poor are forced to pay interest rates as high
as 10 percent per day to money lenders.
(5)(A) The poor are able to expand their incomes and their
businesses dramatically when they can access loans at reasonable
interest rates.
(B) Through the development of self-sustaining microfinance
programs, poor people themselves can lead the fight against hunger
and poverty.
(6)(A) On February 2-4, 1997, a global Microcredit Summit was
held in Washington, District of Columbia, to launch a plan to
expand access to credit for self-employment and other financial and
business services to 100,000,000 of the world's poorest families,
especially the women of those families, by 2005. While this scale
of outreach may not be achievable in this short time-period, the
realization of this goal could dramatically alter the face of
global poverty.
(B) With an average family size of five, achieving this goal
will mean that the benefits of microfinance will thereby reach
nearly half of the world's more than 1,000,000,000 absolute poor
people.
(7)(A) Nongovernmental organizations, such as those that
comprise the Microenterprise Coalition (such as the Grameen Bank
(Bangladesh), K-REP (Kenya), and networks such as Accion
International, the Foundation for International Community
Assistance (FINCA), and the credit union movement) are successful
in lending directly to the very poor.
(B) Microfinance institutions such as BRAC (Bangladesh),
BancoSol (Bolivia), SEWA Bank (India), and ACEP (Senegal) are
regulated financial institutions that can raise funds directly from
the local and international capital markets.
(8)(A) Microenterprise institutions not only reduce poverty,
but also reduce the dependency on foreign assistance.
(B) Interest income on the credit portfolio is used to pay
recurring institutional costs, assuring the long-term
sustainability of development assistance.
(9) Microfinance institutions leverage foreign assistance
resources because loans are recycled, generating new benefits to
program participants.
(10)(A) The development of sustainable microfinance
institutions that provide credit and training, and mobilize
domestic savings, is a critical component to a global strategy of
poverty reduction and broad-based economic development.
(B) In the efforts of the United States to lead the development
of a new global financial architecture, microenterprise should play
a vital role. The recent shocks to international financial markets
demonstrate how the financial sector can shape the destiny of
nations. Microfinance can serve as a powerful tool for building a
more inclusive financial sector which serves the broad majority of
the world's population including the very poor and women and thus
generate more social stability and prosperity.
(C) Over the last two decades, the United States has been a
global leader in promoting the global microenterprise sector,
primarily through its development assistance programs at the United
States Agency for International Development. Additionally, the
Department of the Treasury and the Department of State have used
their authority to promote microenterprise in the development
programs of international financial institutions and the United
Nations.
(11)(A) In 1994, the United States Agency for International
Development launched the ``Microenterprise Initiative'' in
partnership with the Congress.
(B) The initiative committed to expanding funding for the
microenterprise programs of the Agency, and set a goal that, by the
end of fiscal year 1996, one-half of all microenterprise resources
would support programs and institutions that provide credit to the
poorest, with loans under $300.
(C) In order to achieve the goal of the microcredit summit,
increased investment in microfinance institutions serving the
poorest will be critical.
(12) Providing the United States share of the global investment
needed to achieve the goal of the microcredit summit will require
only a small increase in United States funding for international
microcredit programs, with an increased focus on institutions
serving the poorest.
(13)(A) In order to reach tens of millions of the poorest with
microcredit, it is crucial to expand and replicate successful
microfinance institutions.
(B) These institutions need assistance in developing their
institutional capacity to expand their services and tap commercial
sources of capital.
(14) Nongovernmental organizations have demonstrated competence
in developing networks of local microfinance institutions and other
assistance delivery mechanisms so that they reach large numbers of
the very poor, and achieve financial sustainability.
(15) Recognizing that the United States Agency for
International Development has developed very effective partnerships
with nongovernmental organizations, and that the Agency will have
fewer missions overseas to carry out its work, the Agency should
place priority on investing in those nongovernmental network
institutions that meet performance criteria through the central
funding mechanisms of the Agency.
(16) By expanding and replicating successful microfinance
institutions, it should be possible to create a global
infrastructure to provide financial services to the world's poorest
families.
(17)(A) The United States can provide leadership to other
bilateral and multilateral development agencies as such agencies
expand their support to the microenterprise sector.
(B) The United States should seek to improve coordination among
G-7 countries in the support of the microenterprise sector in order
to leverage the investment of the United States with that of other
donor nations.
(18) Through increased support for microenterprise, especially
credit for the poorest, the United States can continue to play a
leadership role in the global effort to expand financial services
and opportunity to 100,000,000 of the poorest families on the
planet.
SEC. 103. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this title are--
(1) to make microenterprise development an important element of
United States foreign economic policy and assistance;
(2) to provide for the continuation and expansion of the
commitment of the United States Agency for International
Development to the development of microenterprise institutions as
outlined in its 1994 Microenterprise Initiative;
(3) to support and develop the capacity of United States and
indigenous nongovernmental organization intermediaries to provide
credit, savings, training, technical assistance, and business
development services to microentrepreneurs;
(4) to emphasize financial services and substantially increase
the amount of assistance devoted to both financial services and
complementary business development services designed to reach the
poorest people in developing countries, particularly women; and
(5) to encourage the United States Agency for International
Development to coordinate microfinance policy, in consultation with
the Department of the Treasury and the Department of State, and to
provide global leadership among bilateral and multilateral donors
in promoting microenterprise for the poorest of the poor.
SEC. 104. DEFINITIONS.
In this title:
(1) Business development services.--The term ``business
development services'' means support for the growth of
microenterprises through training, technical assistance, marketing
assistance, improved production technologies, and other services.
(2) Microenterprise institution.--The term ``microenterprise
institution'' means an institution that provides services,
including microfinance, training, or business development services,
for microentrepreneurs.
(3) Microfinance institution.--The term ``microfinance
institution'' means an institution that directly provides, or works
to expand, the availability of credit, savings, and other financial
services to microentrepreneurs.
(4) Practitioner institution.--The term ``practitioner
institution'' means any institution that provides services,
including microfinance, training, or business development services,
for microentrepreneurs, or provides assistance to microenterprise
institutions.
SEC. 105. MICROENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT GRANT ASSISTANCE.
Chapter 1 of part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22
U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new
section:
``SEC. 131. MICROENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT GRANT ASSISTANCE.
``(a) Findings and Policy.--Congress finds and declares that--
``(1) the development of microenterprise is a vital factor in
the stable growth of developing countries and in the development of
free, open, and equitable international economic systems;
``(2) it is therefore in the best interest of the United States
to assist the development of microenterprises in developing
countries; and
``(3) the support of microenterprise can be served by programs
providing credit, savings, training, technical assistance, and
business development services.
``(b) Authorization.--
``(1) In general.--In carrying out this part, the President is
authorized to provide grant assistance for programs to increase the
availability of credit and other services to microenterprises
lacking full access to capital training, technical assistance, and
business development services, through--
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