I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 192

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 7, 2003

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. HYDE, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. PAYNE, 

Mr. WOLF, Mr. OBERSTAR, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. 

ROHRABACHER, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Mr. HOUGHTON, 

Mr. TANCREDO, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. 

BROWN of Ohio, Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida, Ms. CARSON of 

Indiana, Mr. ISSA, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. ISAKSON, Mr. DICKS, 

Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. BEREUTER, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. SHAW, Mr. 

HOEFFEL, Mr. KIRK, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. 

SHAYS, Mr. MICA, Mr. CASTLE, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. GREENWOOD, Mr. 

MEEKS of New York, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Mr. 

SANDERS, and Ms. WOOLSEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations 

A BILL

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,
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1 SECTION 1. AMENDMENTS TO THE MICROENTERPRISE FOR 

2 SELF-RELIANCE ACT OF 2000. 

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

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

5 amended—

6 (1) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘microentre7 preneurs’’ and inserting ‘‘microenterprise house8 holds’’; 

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

10 end; 

11 (3) in paragraph (5)—

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

13 inserting ‘‘microenterprise policy’’; 

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

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

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

17 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

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

20 this title at least 50 percent of all microenterprise 

21 assistance under this title, and the amendments 

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

23 poor.’’. 

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

25 amended—
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1 (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘for micro2 entrepreneurs’’ and inserting ‘‘to microentrepreneurs 

3 and their households’’; and 

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

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

6 individuals—

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

8 the poverty line established by the national gov9 ernment of the country in which those individ10 uals live; or 

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

12 $1 per day.’’. 

13 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE MICRO- AND SMALL ENTER14 PRISE DEVELOPMENT CREDITS PROGRAM 

15 UNDER THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF 

16 1961. 

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

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

19 2151f(a)(2)) is amended by striking ‘‘the development of 

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

21 financial services and the development of microenter22 prises’’. 

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

24 U.S.C. 2151f(b)) is amended to read as follows: 
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1 ‘‘(b) PROGRAM.—To carry out the policy set forth in 

2 subsection (a), the President is authorized to provide as3 sistance to increase the availability of financial services to 

4 microenterprise households lacking full access to credit, 

5 including through—

6 ‘‘(1) loans and guarantees to microfinance insti7 tutions for the purpose of expanding the availability 

8 of savings and credit to poor and low-income house9 holds; 

10 ‘‘(2) training programs for microfinance institu11 tions in order to enable them to better meet the fi12 nancial services needs of their clients; and 

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

14 enable them to make better use of credit, increase 

15 their financial literacy, and to better manage their 

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

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

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

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

20 paragraph (1)—

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

22 inserting ‘‘microfinance institutions’’; and 

23 (B) by striking ‘‘micro- and small enter24 prises’’ and inserting ‘‘microenterprise house25 holds’’; and 
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1 (2) in paragraphs (1) and (2), by striking 

2 ‘‘credit’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘finan3 cial services’’. 

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

5 such Act (22 U.S.C. 2151f(d)) is amended by striking 

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

7 ‘‘programs for microenterprise households’’. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

14 as follows: 

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

16 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE MICROENTERPRISE DEVEL17 OPMENT GRANT ASSISTANCE PROGRAM 

18 UNDER THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF 

19 1961. 

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

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

22 amended to read as follows: 

23 ‘‘(a) FINDINGS AND POLICY.—Congress finds and de24 clares that—
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1 ‘‘(1) access to financial services and the devel2 opment of microenterprise are vital factors in the 

3 stable growth of developing countries and in the de4 velopment of free, open, and equitable international 

5 economic systems; 

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

7 United States to facilitate access to financial serv8 ices and assist the development of microenterprise in 

9 developing countries; 

10 ‘‘(3) access to financial services and the devel11 opment of microenterprises can be supported by pro12 grams providing credit, savings, training, technical 

13 assistance, business development services, and other 

14 financial and non-financial services; and 

15 ‘‘(4) given the relatively high percentage of pop16 ulations living in rural areas of developing countries, 

17 and the combined high incidence of poverty in rural 

18 areas and growing income inequality between rural 

19 and urban markets, microenterprise programs 

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

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

22 (22 U.S.C. 2152a(b)) is amended—

23 (1) in paragraph (3)(A)(i), by striking ‘‘entre24 preneurs’’ and inserting ‘‘clients’’; and 

25 (2) in paragraph (4)(D)—
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1 (A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘very small 

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

3 entrepreneurs’’; and 

4 (B) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘micro5 finance’’ and inserting ‘‘microenterprise’’. 

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

7 Act (22 U.S.C. 2152a(c)) is amended by striking para8 graph (4) and inserting the following: 

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

10 effective poverty assessment tools to successfully 

11 identify the very poor and ensure that they receive 

12 needed microenterprise loans, savings, and assist13 ance.’’. 

14 (d) DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF POVERTY

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

16 U.S.C. 2152a) is amended—

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

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

19 (2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol20 lowing: 

21 ‘‘(d) DEVELOPMENT AND CERTIFICATION OF POV22 ERTY MEASUREMENT METHODS; APPLICATION OF METH23 ODS.—

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

25 The Administrator of the United States Agency for 
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1 International Development, in consultation with 

2 microenterprise institutions and other appropriate 

3 organizations, shall develop no fewer than two low4 cost methods for partner institutions to use to assess 

5 the poverty levels of their current or prospective cli6 ents. The United States Agency for International 

7 Development shall develop poverty indicators that 

8 correlate with the circumstances of the very poor. 

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

10 methods developed under subparagraph (A). As part 

11 of the testing, institutions and programs may use 

12 the methods on a voluntary basis to demonstrate 

13 their ability to reach the very poor. 

14 ‘‘(C) Not later than October 1, 2004, the Ad15 ministrator shall, from among the low-cost poverty 

16 measurement methods developed under subpara17 graph (A), certify no fewer than two such methods 

18 as approved methods for measuring the poverty lev19 els of current or prospective clients of microenter20 prise institutions for purposes of assistance under 

21 this section. 

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

23 require that, with reasonable exceptions, all organi24 zations applying for microenterprise assistance 

25 under this Act use one of the certified methods, be-
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1 ginning no later than October 1, 2005, to determine 

2 and report the poverty levels of current or prospec3 tive clients.’’. 

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

5 Act, as redesignated by subsection (d), is amended by in6 serting ‘‘and $175,000,000 for fiscal year 2003 and 

7 $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2004’’ after ‘‘fiscal years 

8 2001 and 2002’’. 

9 (f) DEFINITIONS.—Section 131(f) of such Act, as re10 designated by subsection (d), is amended by adding at the 

11 end the following: 

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

13 those individuals—

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

15 the poverty line established by the national gov16 ernment of the country in which those individ17 uals live; or 

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

19 $1 per day.’’. 

20 SEC. 4. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

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

22 2005, the Administrator of the United States Agency for 

23 International Development shall submit to Congress a re24 port that documents the process of developing and apply25 ing poverty assessment procedures with its partners. 
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1 (b) REPORTS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2006 AND BE2 YOND.—Beginning with fiscal year 2006, the Adminis3 trator of the United States Agency for International De4 velopment shall annually submit to Congress on a timely 

5 basis a report that addresses the United States Agency 

6 for International Development’s compliance with the 

7 Microenterprise for Self-Reliance Act of 2000 by docu8 menting—

9 (1) the percentage of its resources that were al10 located to the very poor (as defined in paragraph (5) 

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

12 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2152a(f)(5))) based on the data 

13 collected from its partners using the certified meth14 ods; and 

15 (2) the absolute number of the very poor 

16 reached.

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