II 

Calendar No. 106

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 192

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 15, 2003

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

MAY 21, 2003

Reported by Mr. LUGAR, without amendment 

AN ACT

To amend the Microenterprise for Self-Reliance Act of 2000 

and the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to increase 

assistance for the poorest people in developing countries 

under microenterprise assistance programs under those 

Acts, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. AMENDMENTS TO THE MICROENTERPRISE FOR 

4 SELF-RELIANCE ACT OF 2000. 

5 (a) PURPOSES.—Section 103 of the Microenterprise 

6 for Self-Reliance Act of 2000 (Public Law 106–309) is 

7 amended—
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HR 192 RS 

1 (1) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘microentre2 preneurs’’ and inserting ‘‘microenterprise house3 holds’’; 

4 (2) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

5 end; 

6 (3) in paragraph (5)—

7 (A) by striking ‘‘microfinance policy’’ and 

8 inserting ‘‘microenterprise policy’’; 

9 (B) by striking ‘‘the poorest of the poor’’ 

10 and inserting ‘‘the very poor’’; and 

11 (C) by striking the period at the end and 

12 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

13 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(6) to ensure that in the implementation of 

15 this title at least 50 percent of all microenterprise 

16 assistance under this title, and the amendments 

17 made under this title, shall be targeted to the very 

18 poor.’’. 

19 (b) DEFINITIONS.—Section 104 of such Act is 

20 amended—

21 (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘for micro22 entrepreneurs’’ and inserting ‘‘to microentrepreneurs 

23 and their households’’; and 

24 (2) by adding at the end the following: 
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HR 192 RS 

1 ‘‘(5) VERY POOR.—The term ‘very poor’ means 

2 individuals—

3 ‘‘(A) living in the bottom 50 percent below 

4 the poverty line established by the national gov5 ernment of the country in which those individ6 uals live; or 

7 ‘‘(B) living on the equivalent of less than 

8 $1 per day.’’. 

9 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE MICRO- AND SMALL ENTER10 PRISE DEVELOPMENT CREDITS PROGRAM 

11 UNDER THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF 

12 1961. 

13 (a) FINDINGS AND POLICY.—Section 108(a)(2) of 

14 the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 

15 2151f(a)(2)) is amended by striking ‘‘the development of 

16 the enterprises of the poor’’ and inserting ‘‘the access to 

17 financial services and the development of microenter18 prises’’. 

19 (b) PROGRAM.—Section 108(b) of such Act (22 

20 U.S.C. 2151f(b)) is amended to read as follows: 

21 ‘‘(b) PROGRAM.—To carry out the policy set forth in 

22 subsection (a), the President is authorized to provide as23 sistance to increase the availability of financial services to 

24 microenterprise households lacking full access to credit, 

25 including through—
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HR 192 RS 

1 ‘‘(1) loans and guarantees to microfinance insti2 tutions for the purpose of expanding the availability 

3 of savings and credit to poor and low-income house4 holds; 

5 ‘‘(2) training programs for microfinance institu6 tions in order to enable them to better meet the fi7 nancial services needs of their clients; and 

8 ‘‘(3) training programs for clients in order to 

9 enable them to make better use of credit, increase 

10 their financial literacy, and to better manage their 

11 enterprises to improve their quality of life.’’. 

12 (c) ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA.—Section 108(c) of such 

13 Act (22 U.S.C. 2151f(c)) is amended—

14 (1) in the first sentence of the matter preceding 

15 paragraph (1)—

16 (A) by striking ‘‘credit institutions’’ and 

17 inserting ‘‘microfinance institutions’’; and 

18 (B) by striking ‘‘micro- and small enter19 prises’’ and inserting ‘‘microenterprise house20 holds’’; and 

21 (2) in paragraphs (1) and (2), by striking 

22 ‘‘credit’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘finan23 cial services’’. 

24 (d) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENT.—Section 108(d) of 

25 such Act (22 U.S.C. 2151f(d)) is amended by striking 
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HR 192 RS 

1 ‘‘micro- and small enterprise programs’’ and inserting 

2 ‘‘programs for microenterprise households’’. 

3 (e) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Section 108(f)(1) of 

4 such Act (22 U.S.C. 2151f(f)(1)) is amended by striking 

5 ‘‘for each of fiscal years 2001 and 2002’’ and inserting 

6 ‘‘for each of fiscal years 2001 through 2004’’. 

7 (f) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 108 of such 

8 Act (22 U.S.C. 2151f) is amended in the heading to read 

9 as follows: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 108. MICROENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT CREDITS.’’. 

11 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE MICROENTERPRISE DEVEL12 OPMENT GRANT ASSISTANCE PROGRAM 

13 UNDER THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF 

14 1961. 

15 (a) FINDINGS AND POLICY.—Section 131(a) of the 

16 Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2152a(a)) is 

17 amended to read as follows: 

18 ‘‘(a) FINDINGS AND POLICY.—Congress finds and de19 clares that—

20 ‘‘(1) access to financial services and the devel21 opment of microenterprise are vital factors in the 

22 stable growth of developing countries and in the de23 velopment of free, open, and equitable international 

24 economic systems; 
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HR 192 RS 

1 ‘‘(2) it is therefore in the best interest of the 

2 United States to facilitate access to financial serv3 ices and assist the development of microenterprise in 

4 developing countries; 

5 ‘‘(3) access to financial services and the devel6 opment of microenterprises can be supported by pro7 grams providing credit, savings, training, technical 

8 assistance, business development services, and other 

9 financial and non-financial services; and 

10 ‘‘(4) given the relatively high percentage of pop11 ulations living in rural areas of developing countries, 

12 and the combined high incidence of poverty in rural 

13 areas and growing income inequality between rural 

14 and urban markets, microenterprise programs 

15 should target both rural and urban poor.’’. 

16 (b) AUTHORIZATION.—Section 131(b) of such Act 

17 (22 U.S.C. 2152a(b)) is amended—

18 (1) in paragraph (3)(A)(i), by striking ‘‘entre19 preneurs’’ and inserting ‘‘clients’’; and 

20 (2) in paragraph (4)(D)—

21 (A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘very small 

22 loans’’ and inserting ‘‘financial services to poor 

23 entrepreneurs’’; and 

24 (B) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘micro25 finance’’ and inserting ‘‘microenterprise’’. 
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HR 192 RS 

1 (c) MONITORING SYSTEM.—Section 131(c) of such 

2 Act (22 U.S.C. 2152a(c)) is amended by striking para3 graph (4) and inserting the following: 

4 ‘‘(4) adopts the widespread use of proven and 

5 effective poverty assessment tools to successfully 

6 identify the very poor and ensure that they receive 

7 needed microenterprise loans, savings, and assist8 ance.’’. 

9 (d) DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF POVERTY

10 MEASUREMENT METHODS.—Section 131 of such Act (22 

11 U.S.C. 2152a) is amended—

12 (1) by redesignating subsections (d) and (e) as 

13 subsections (e) and (f), respectively; and 

14 (2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol15 lowing: 

16 ‘‘(d) DEVELOPMENT AND CERTIFICATION OF POV17 ERTY MEASUREMENT METHODS; APPLICATION OF METH18 ODS.—

19 ‘‘(1) DEVELOPMENT AND CERTIFICATION.—(A) 

20 The Administrator of the United States Agency for 

21 International Development, in consultation with 

22 microenterprise institutions and other appropriate 

23 organizations, shall develop no fewer than two low24 cost methods for partner institutions to use to assess 

25 the poverty levels of their current or prospective cli-
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HR 192 RS 

1 ents. The United States Agency for International 

2 Development shall develop poverty indicators that 

3 correlate with the circumstances of the very poor. 

4 ‘‘(B) The Administrator shall field-test the 

5 methods developed under subparagraph (A). As part 

6 of the testing, institutions and programs may use 

7 the methods on a voluntary basis to demonstrate 

8 their ability to reach the very poor. 

9 ‘‘(C) Not later than October 1, 2004, the Ad10 ministrator shall, from among the low-cost poverty 

11 measurement methods developed under subpara12 graph (A), certify no fewer than two such methods 

13 as approved methods for measuring the poverty lev14 els of current or prospective clients of microenter15 prise institutions for purposes of assistance under 

16 this section. 

17 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION.—The Administrator shall 

18 require that, with reasonable exceptions, all organi19 zations applying for microenterprise assistance 

20 under this Act use one of the certified methods, be21 ginning no later than October 1, 2005, to determine 

22 and report the poverty levels of current or prospec23 tive clients.’’. 

24 (e) LEVEL OF ASSISTANCE.—Section 131(e) of such 

25 Act, as redesignated by subsection (d), is amended by in-
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1 serting ‘‘and $175,000,000 for fiscal year 2003 and 

2 $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2004’’ after ‘‘fiscal years 

3 2001 and 2002’’. 

4 (f) DEFINITIONS.—Section 131(f) of such Act, as re5 designated by subsection (d), is amended by adding at the 

6 end the following: 

7 ‘‘(5) VERY POOR.—The term ‘very poor’ means 

8 those individuals—

9 ‘‘(A) living in the bottom 50 percent below 

10 the poverty line established by the national gov11 ernment of the country in which those individ12 uals live; or 

13 ‘‘(B) living on less than the equivalent of 

14 $1 per day.’’. 

15 SEC. 4. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than September 30, 

17 2005, the Administrator of the United States Agency for 

18 International Development shall submit to Congress a re19 port that documents the process of developing and apply20 ing poverty assessment procedures with its partners. 

21 (b) REPORTS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2006 AND BE22 YOND.—Beginning with fiscal year 2006, the Adminis23 trator of the United States Agency for International De24 velopment shall annually submit to Congress on a timely 

25 basis a report that addresses the United States Agency 
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1 for International Development’s compliance with the 

2 Microenterprise for Self-Reliance Act of 2000 by docu3 menting—

4 (1) the percentage of its resources that were al5 located to the very poor (as defined in paragraph (5) 

6 of section 131(f) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 

7 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2152a(f)(5))) based on the data 

8 collected from its partners using the certified meth9 ods; and 

10 (2) the absolute number of the very poor 

11 reached.

Passed the House of Representatives May 14, 2003. 

Attest: JEFF TRANDAHL, 

Clerk. 

By MARTHA C. MORRISON, 

Deputy Clerk. 

Calendar No. 106

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 192

AN ACT

To amend the Microenterprise for Self-Reliance Act 

other purposes. sistance programs under those Acts, and for developing countries under microenterprise asto increase assistance for the poorest people in of 2000 and the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 

MAY 21, 2003

Reported without amendment