IIB 

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 

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.
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HR 192 RFS 

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—

8 (1) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘microentre9 preneurs’’ and inserting ‘‘microenterprise house10 holds’’; 

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

12 end; 

13 (3) in paragraph (5)—

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

15 inserting ‘‘microenterprise policy’’; 

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

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

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

19 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

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

22 this title at least 50 percent of all microenterprise 

23 assistance under this title, and the amendments 

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

25 poor.’’. 
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HR 192 RFS 

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

2 amended—

3 (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘for micro4 entrepreneurs’’ and inserting ‘‘to microentrepreneurs 

5 and their households’’; and 

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

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

8 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 the equivalent of less than 

14 $1 per day.’’. 

15 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE MICRO- AND SMALL ENTER16 PRISE DEVELOPMENT CREDITS PROGRAM 

17 UNDER THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF 

18 1961. 

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

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

21 2151f(a)(2)) is amended by striking ‘‘the development of 

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

23 financial services and the development of microenter24 prises’’. 
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HR 192 RFS 

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

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

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

4 subsection (a), the President is authorized to provide as5 sistance to increase the availability of financial services to 

6 microenterprise households lacking full access to credit, 

7 including through—

8 ‘‘(1) loans and guarantees to microfinance insti9 tutions for the purpose of expanding the availability 

10 of savings and credit to poor and low-income house11 holds; 

12 ‘‘(2) training programs for microfinance institu13 tions in order to enable them to better meet the fi14 nancial services needs of their clients; and 

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

16 enable them to make better use of credit, increase 

17 their financial literacy, and to better manage their 

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

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

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

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

22 paragraph (1)—

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

24 inserting ‘‘microfinance institutions’’; and 
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HR 192 RFS 

1 (B) by striking ‘‘micro- and small enter2 prises’’ and inserting ‘‘microenterprise house3 holds’’; and 

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

5 ‘‘credit’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘finan6 cial services’’. 

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

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

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

10 ‘‘programs for microenterprise households’’. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

17 as follows: 

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

19 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE MICROENTERPRISE DEVEL20 OPMENT GRANT ASSISTANCE PROGRAM 

21 UNDER THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF 

22 1961. 

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

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

25 amended to read as follows: 
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HR 192 RFS 

1 ‘‘(a) FINDINGS AND POLICY.—Congress finds and de2 clares that—

3 ‘‘(1) access to financial services and the devel4 opment of microenterprise are vital factors in the 

5 stable growth of developing countries and in the de6 velopment of free, open, and equitable international 

7 economic systems; 

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

9 United States to facilitate access to financial serv10 ices and assist the development of microenterprise in 

11 developing countries; 

12 ‘‘(3) access to financial services and the devel13 opment of microenterprises can be supported by pro14 grams providing credit, savings, training, technical 

15 assistance, business development services, and other 

16 financial and non-financial services; and 

17 ‘‘(4) given the relatively high percentage of pop18 ulations living in rural areas of developing countries, 

19 and the combined high incidence of poverty in rural 

20 areas and growing income inequality between rural 

21 and urban markets, microenterprise programs 

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

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

24 (22 U.S.C. 2152a(b)) is amended—
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HR 192 RFS 

1 (1) in paragraph (3)(A)(i), by striking ‘‘entre2 preneurs’’ and inserting ‘‘clients’’; and 

3 (2) in paragraph (4)(D)—

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

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

6 entrepreneurs’’; and 

7 (B) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘micro8 finance’’ and inserting ‘‘microenterprise’’. 

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

10 Act (22 U.S.C. 2152a(c)) is amended by striking para11 graph (4) and inserting the following: 

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

13 effective poverty assessment tools to successfully 

14 identify the very poor and ensure that they receive 

15 needed microenterprise loans, savings, and assist16 ance.’’. 

17 (d) DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF POVERTY

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

19 U.S.C. 2152a) is amended—

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

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

22 (2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol23 lowing: 
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HR 192 RFS 

1 ‘‘(d) DEVELOPMENT AND CERTIFICATION OF POV2 ERTY MEASUREMENT METHODS; APPLICATION OF METH3 ODS.—

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

5 The Administrator of the United States Agency for 

6 International Development, in consultation with 

7 microenterprise institutions and other appropriate 

8 organizations, shall develop no fewer than two low9 cost methods for partner institutions to use to assess 

10 the poverty levels of their current or prospective cli11 ents. The United States Agency for International 

12 Development shall develop poverty indicators that 

13 correlate with the circumstances of the very poor. 

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

15 methods developed under subparagraph (A). As part 

16 of the testing, institutions and programs may use 

17 the methods on a voluntary basis to demonstrate 

18 their ability to reach the very poor. 

19 ‘‘(C) Not later than October 1, 2004, the Ad20 ministrator shall, from among the low-cost poverty 

21 measurement methods developed under subpara22 graph (A), certify no fewer than two such methods 

23 as approved methods for measuring the poverty lev24 els of current or prospective clients of microenter-
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HR 192 RFS 

1 prise institutions for purposes of assistance under 

2 this section. 

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

4 require that, with reasonable exceptions, all organi5 zations applying for microenterprise assistance 

6 under this Act use one of the certified methods, be7 ginning no later than October 1, 2005, to determine 

8 and report the poverty levels of current or prospec9 tive clients.’’. 

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

11 Act, as redesignated by subsection (d), is amended by in12 serting ‘‘and $175,000,000 for fiscal year 2003 and 

13 $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2004’’ after ‘‘fiscal years 

14 2001 and 2002’’. 

15 (f) DEFINITIONS.—Section 131(f) of such Act, as re16 designated by subsection (d), is amended by adding at the 

17 end the following: 

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

19 those individuals—

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

21 the poverty line established by the national gov22 ernment of the country in which those individ23 uals live; or 

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

25 $1 per day.’’. 
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HR 192 RFS 

1 SEC. 4. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

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

3 2005, the Administrator of the United States Agency for 

4 International Development shall submit to Congress a re5 port that documents the process of developing and apply6 ing poverty assessment procedures with its partners. 

7 (b) REPORTS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2006 AND BE8 YOND.—Beginning with fiscal year 2006, the Adminis9 trator of the United States Agency for International De10 velopment shall annually submit to Congress on a timely 

11 basis a report that addresses the United States Agency 

12 for International Development’s compliance with the 

13 Microenterprise for Self-Reliance Act of 2000 by docu14 menting—

15 (1) the percentage of its resources that were al16 located to the very poor (as defined in paragraph (5) 

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

18 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2152a(f)(5))) based on the data 

19 collected from its partners using the certified meth20 ods; and 
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HR 192 RFS 

1 (2) the absolute number of the very poor 

2 reached.

Passed the House of Representatives May 14, 2003. 

Attest: JEFF TRANDAHL, 

Clerk. 

By MARTHA C. MORRISON, 

Deputy Clerk.