IB 

Union Calendar No. 262 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3818 

[Report No. 108–459] 

To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to improve the results and 

accountability of microenterprise development assistance programs, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 24, 2004 

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. HYDE, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. BELL, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. 

PAYNE, Mr. PITTS, Ms. HARRIS, Mr. DICKS, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. SMITH

of Washington, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA, and Mr. BROWN of 

Ohio) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on International Relations 

APRIL 2, 2004 

Additional sponsors: Mr. WALSH, Mr. LAMPSON, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. WAXMAN, Mrs. JO ANN DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. HOUGHTON, Mr. DAVIS of 

Florida, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. EDWARDS, Mr. ROTHMAN, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. BERMAN, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Mr. UDALL of New Mexico, Ms. 

LEE, Mr. INSLEE, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. 

HUNTER, Mr. FILNER, Mr. PENCE, Mr. BEREUTER, Mr. GILLMOR, Mr. 

WELDON of Florida, Mr. FARR, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. 

TANCREDO, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART

of Florida, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Mr. GREENWOOD, Mr. MOORE, Mr. MEEKS of New York, Mr. 

SULLIVAN, Ms. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. HOLT, Ms. 

DUNN, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. FROST, Mr. 

WOLF, Mr. CARSON of Oklahoma, Mr. EVANS, Mr. LEACH, Mr. SAXTON, 

Mr. MEEK of Florida, Mr. MATHESON, Mr. HOEFFEL, Ms. MAJETTE, 

Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. SPRATT, 

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida, Mr. SABO, Mr. DEUTSCH, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. ACKERMAN, Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, 

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, and Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia 
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APRIL 2, 2004 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on February 24, 2004] 

A BILL 

To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to improve 

the results and accountability of microenterprise development assistance programs, 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. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Microenterprise Results 

5 and Accountability Act of 2004’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND POLICY. 

7 Congress finds and declares the following: 

8 (1) Congress has demonstrated its support for 

9 microenterprise development assistance programs 

10 through the enactment of two comprehensive micro11 enterprise laws: 

12 (A) The Microenterprise for Self-Reliance 

13 Act of 2000 (title I of Public Law 106–309; 114 

14 Stat. 1082). 

15 (B) Public Law 108–31 (an Act entitled 

16 ‘‘An Act to amend the Microenterprise for Self- 
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1 Reliance Act of 2000 and the Foreign Assistance 

2 Act of 1961 to increase assistance for the poorest 

3 people in developing countries under microenter4 prise assistance program under those Acts, and 

5 for other purposes’’, approved June 17, 2003). 

6 (2) The United States Agency for International 

7 Development, the agency responsible for implementing 

8 microenterprise development assistance programs au9 thorized under sections 108 and 131 of the Foreign 

10 Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151f and 2152a), 

11 is not presently organized to adequately coordinate, 

12 implement, and monitor such programs, as evidenced 

13 by the late submission by the Agency of the report re14 quired by section 108 of the Microenterprise for Self15 Reliance Act of 2000. 

16 (3) The Comptroller General, in a report dated 

17 November 2003, found that the United States Agency 

18 for International Development has met some, but not 

19 all, of the key objectives of such microenterprise devel20 opment assistance programs. 

21 (4) The Comptroller General’s report found, 

22 among other things, the following: 

23 (A) Microenterprise development assistance 

24 generally can help alleviate some impacts of pov25 erty, improve income levels and quality of life 
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1 for borrowers and provide poor individuals, 

2 workers, and their families with an important 

3 coping mechanism. 

4 (B) Although studies and academic analyses 

5 funded by the United States Agency for Inter6 national Development have found that micro7 enterprise activities generally serve the poor clus8 tered around the poverty line, few loans appear 

9 to be reaching the very poor. 

10 (C) Microenterprise development assistance 

11 programs of the United States Agency for Inter12 national Development have encouraged women’s 

13 participation in microfinance projects and, ac14 cording to data of the Agency, women have com15 prised two-thirds or more of the micro-loan cli16 ents in Agency-funded microenterprise projects 

17 since 1997. 

18 (5)(A) The Comptroller General’s report rec19 ommends that the Administrator of the United States 

20 Agency for International Development review the 

21 Agency’s ‘‘microenterprise results reporting’’ system 

22 with the goal of ensuring that its annual reporting is 

23 complete and accurate. 

24 (B) Specifically, the Administrator should re25 view and reconsider the methodologies used for the 
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1 collection, analysis, and reporting of data on annual 

2 spending targets, outreach to the very poor, sustain3 ability of microfinance institutions, and the contribu4 tion of Agency’s funding to the institutions it sup5 ports. 

6 SEC. 3. MICROENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE. 

7 Chapter 2 of part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 

8 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2166 et seq.) is amended by inserting after 

9 title V the following new title: 

10 ‘‘TITLE VI—MICROENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT 

11 ASSISTANCE 

12 ‘‘SEC. 251. FINDINGS AND POLICY. 

13 ‘‘Congress finds and declares the following: 

14 ‘‘(1) Access to financial services and the develop15 ment of microenterprise are vital factors in the stable 

16 growth of developing countries and in the development 

17 of free, open, and equitable international economic 

18 systems. 

19 ‘‘(2) It is therefore in the best interest of the 

20 United States to facilitate access to financial services 

21 and assist the development of microenterprise in de22 veloping countries. 

23 ‘‘(3) Access to financial services and the develop24 ment of microenterprises can be supported by pro25 grams providing credit, savings, training, technical 
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1 assistance, business development services, and other fi2 nancial services. 

3 ‘‘(4) Given the relatively high percentage of pop4 ulations living in rural areas of developing countries, 

5 and the combined high incidence of poverty in rural 

6 areas and growing income inequality between rural 

7 and urban markets, microenterprise programs should 

8 target both rural and urban poor. 

9 ‘‘(5) Microenteprise programs have been success10 ful and should continue to empower vulnerable 

11 women in the developing world. Such programs 

12 should take into account the risks faced by women 

13 who are potential victims of severe forms of traf14 ficking and the need for assistance for women who be15 come victims of severe forms of trafficking, as pro16 vided for in section 106(a)(1) of the Trafficking Vic17 tims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7104(a)(1); 

18 Public Law 106–386). 

19 ‘‘(6) Given that microenterprise programs have 

20 been successful in empowering disenfranchised groups 

21 such as women, microenterprise programs should also 

22 target populations disenfranchised due to race or eth23 nicity in countries where a strong relationship be24 tween poverty and race or ethnicity has been dem25 onstrated, such as countries in Latin America. 
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1 ‘‘SEC. 252. AUTHORIZATION; IMPLEMENTATION; TARGETED 

2 ASSISTANCE. 

3 ‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION.—The President is authorized to 

4 provide assistance on a grant basis for programs in devel5 oping countries to increase the availability of credit, sav6 ings, and other services to microenterprises lacking full ac7 cess to capital, training, technical assistance, and business 

8 development services, through— 

9 ‘‘(1) grants to microfinance institutions for the 

10 purpose of expanding the availability of credit, sav11 ings, and other financial services to microentreprise 

12 clients; 

13 ‘‘(2) grants to microenterprise institutions for 

14 the purpose of training, technical assistance, and 

15 business development services for microenterprises to 

16 enable them to make better use of credit, to better 

17 manage their enterprises, to conduct market analysis 

18 and product development for expanding domestic and 

19 international sales, particularly to United States 

20 markets, and to increase their income and build their 

21 assets; 

22 ‘‘(3) capacity-building for microenterprise insti23 tutions in order to enable them to better meet the 

24 credit, savings, and training needs of microentreprise 

25 clients; and 
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1 ‘‘(4) policy and regulatory programs at the 

2 country level that improve the environment for 

3 microentreprise clients and microenterprise institu4 tions that serve the poor and very poor. 

5 ‘‘(b) IMPLEMENTATION.— 

6 ‘‘(1) OFFICE OF MICROENTERPRISE DEVELOP7 MENT.— 

8 ‘‘(A) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is estab9 lished within the Agency an Office of Microenter10 prise Development, which shall be headed by a 

11 Director who shall be appointed by the Adminis12 trator and who should possess technical expertise 

13 and ability to offer leadership in the field of 

14 microenterprise development. 

15 ‘‘(B) DUTIES.—The Office shall coordinate 

16 and be responsible for the provision of assistance 

17 under this title. 

18 ‘‘(2) ASSISTANCE THROUGH GRANTS TO ELIGI19 BLE ORGANIZATIONS.—Assistance under subsection 

20 (a) shall be provided through grants executed, ap21 proved, or reviewed by the Office to eligible imple22 menting partner organizations that have a capacity 

23 to develop and implement microenterprise programs. 

24 ‘‘(3) REVIEW AND APPROVAL.—With respect to 

25 assistance under subsection (a) that is furnished 
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1 through field missions of the Agency, the Office shall 

2 be responsible for— 

3 ‘‘(A) reviewing or approving each grant 

4 agreement prior to obligation of funds under the 

5 agreement in order to ensure that activities to be 

6 carried out using such funds are efficacious, 

7 technically sound, and suitable for the economic 

8 and security climate of the country or region 

9 where the activities will be conducted; and 

10 ‘‘(B) approving microenterprise develop11 ment components of strategic plans of missions, 

12 bureaus, and offices of the Agency. 

13 ‘‘(c) TARGETED ASSISTANCE.—In carrying out sus14 tainable poverty-focused programs under subsection (a), 50 

15 percent of all microenterprise resources shall be targeted to 

16 very poor clients, defined as those individuals living in the 

17 bottom 50 percent below the poverty line as established by 

18 the national government of the country. Specifically, such 

19 resources shall be used for— 

20 ‘‘(1) support of programs under this section 

21 through practitioner institutions that— 

22 ‘‘(A) provide credit and other financial 

23 services to clients who are very poor, with loans 

24 in 1995 United States dollars of— 
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1 ‘‘(i) $1,000 or less in the Europe and 

2 Eurasia region; 

3 ‘‘(ii) $400 or less in the Latin America 

4 region; and 

5 ‘‘(iii) $300 or less in the rest of the 

6 world; and 

7 ‘‘(B) can cover their costs in a reasonable 

8 time period; or 

9 ‘‘(2) demand-driven business development pro10 grams that achieve reasonable cost recovery that are 

11 provided to clients holding poverty loans (as defined 

12 by the regional poverty loan limitations in paragraph 

13 (1)(A)), whether they are provided by microfinance 

14 institutions or by specialized business development 

15 services providers. 

16 ‘‘(d) SUPPORT FOR CENTRAL MECHANISMS.—The Ad17 ministrator should increase the use of central mechanisms 

18 through microenterprise, microfinance, and practitioner in19 stitutions in the implementation of this title. 

20 ‘‘SEC. 253. MONITORING SYSTEM. 

21 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—In order to maximize the sus22 tainable development impact of assistance authorized under 

23 section 252(a), the Administrator of the Agency, acting 

24 through the Director of the Office, shall establish a moni25 toring system that meets the requirements of subsection (b). 
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1 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—The requirements referred to in 

2 subsection (a) are the following: 

3 ‘‘(1) The monitoring system establishes perform4 ance goals for the assistance and expresses such goals 

5 in an objective and quantifiable form, to the extent 

6 feasible. 

7 ‘‘(2) The monitoring system establishes perform8 ance indicators to be used in measuring or assessing 

9 the achievement of the performance goals described in 

10 paragraph (1) and the objectives of the assistance au11 thorized under section 252. 

12 ‘‘(3) The monitoring system provides a basis for 

13 recommendations for adjustments to the assistance to 

14 enhance the sustainability and the impact of the as15 sistance, particularly the impact of such assistance on 

16 the very poor, particularly poor women. 

17 ‘‘(4) The monitoring system adopts the wide18 spread use of proven and effective poverty assessment 

19 tools to successfully identify the very poor and ensure 

20 that they receive adequate access to microenterprise 

21 loans, savings, and assistance. 

22 ‘‘SEC. 254. DEVELOPMENT AND CERTIFICATION OF POV23 ERTY MEASUREMENT METHODS; APPLICA24 TION OF METHODS. 

25 ‘‘(a) DEVELOPMENT AND CERTIFICATION.— 
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the 

2 Agency, in consultation with microenterprise institu3 tions and other appropriate organizations, shall de4 velop no fewer than two low-cost methods for eligible 

5 implementing partner organizations to use to assess 

6 the poverty levels of their current or prospective cli7 ents. The Administrator shall develop poverty indica8 tors that correlate with the circumstances of the very 

9 poor. 

10 ‘‘(2) FIELD TESTING.—The Administrator shall 

11 field-test the methods developed under paragraph (1). 

12 As part of the testing, institutions and programs may 

13 use the methods on a voluntary basis to demonstrate 

14 their ability to reach the very poor. 

15 ‘‘(3) CERTIFICATION.—Not later than October 1, 

16 2004, the Administrator shall, from among the low17 cost poverty measurement methods developed under 

18 paragraph (1), certify no fewer than two such meth19 ods as approved methods for measuring the poverty 

20 levels of current or prospective clients of microenter21 prise institutions for purposes of assistance under sec22 tion 252. 

23 ‘‘(b) APPLICATION.—The Administrator shall require 

24 that, with reasonable exceptions, all eligible implementing 

25 partner organizations applying for microenterprise assist-
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1 ance under this title use one of the certified methods, begin2 ning not later than October 1, 2005, to determine and re3 port the poverty levels of current or prospective clients. 

4 ‘‘SEC. 255. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS; ADDI5 TIONAL AUTHORITIES. 

6 ‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

7 are authorized to be appropriated to the President to carry 

8 out this subtitle $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2005 and such 

9 sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 2006. 

10 ‘‘(b) ADDITIONAL AUTHORITIES.—(1) Amounts appro11 priated pursuant to the authorization of appropriations 

12 under subsection (a)— 

13 ‘‘(A) may be referred to as the ‘Microenterprise 

14 Development Assistance Account’; 

15 ‘‘(B) shall be allocated to the Office, and upon 

16 approval by the Director of the Office, may be reallo17 cated to field missions of the Agency in furtherance 

18 of the purposes of this title; 

19 ‘‘(C) are authorized to remain available until ex20 pended; and 

21 ‘‘(D) are in addition to amounts otherwise avail22 able for such purposes. 

23 ‘‘(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 

24 amounts made available for assistance for microenterprise 

25 development assistance under any provision of law other 
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1 than this title may be provided to further the purposes of 

2 this title. To the extent assistance described in the preceding 

3 sentence is provided in accordance with such sentence, the 

4 Administrator of the Agency shall include, as part of the 

5 report required under section 258, a detailed description of 

6 such assistance and, to the extent applicable, the informa7 tion required by paragraphs (1) through (10) of subsection 

8 (b) of such section with respect to such assistance.’’. 

9 SEC. 4. MICROENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT CREDITS. 

10 (a) TRANSFER.—Section 108 of the Foreign Assistance 

11 Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151f) is hereby— 

12 (1) transferred from chapter 1 of part I of the 

13 Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to title VI of chapter 

14 2 of part I of such Act (as added by section 3 of this 

15 Act); and 

16 (2) inserted after section 255 of the Foreign As17 sistance Act of 1961. 

18 (b) REDESIGNATION.—Title VI of chapter 2 of part I 

19 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 is amended by redesig20 nating section 108 (as added by subsection (a)) as section 

21 256. 

22 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Title VI of chapter 

23 2 of part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 is amend24 ed— 
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1 (1) by inserting after the title heading the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘Subtitle A—Grant Assistance’’; 

4 (2) by inserting after section 255 the following: 

5 ‘‘Subtitle B—Credit Assistance’’; and 

6 (3) in section 256 (as redesignated by subsection 

7 (b))— 

8 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1) 

9 of subsection (c), by striking ‘‘Administrator of 

10 the agency primarily responsible for admin11 istering this part’’ and inserting ‘‘Administrator 

12 of the Agency’’; and 

13 (B) in subsection (f)(1)— 

14 (i) by striking ‘‘section 131’’ and in15 serting ‘‘this part’’; and 

16 (ii) by striking ‘‘2001 through 2004’’ 

17 and inserting ‘‘2005 and 2006’’. 

18 SEC. 5. UNITED STATES MICROFINANCE LOAN FACILITY. 

19 (a) TRANSFER.—Section 132 of the Foreign Assistance 

20 Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2152b) is hereby— 

21 (1) transferred from chapter 1 of part I of the 

22 Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to title VI of chapter 

23 2 of part I of such Act (as added by section 3 of this 

24 Act); and 
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1 (2) inserted after section 256 of the Foreign As2 sistance Act of 1961 (as added by section 4 of this 

3 Act). 

4 (b) REDESIGNATION.—Title VI of chapter 2 of part I 

5 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 is amended by redesig6 nating section 132 (as added by subsection (a)) as section 

7 257. 

8 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Title VI of chapter 

9 2 of part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 is amend10 ed— 

11 (1) by inserting after section 256 the following: 

12 ‘‘Subtitle C—United States Microfinance Loan Facility’’; 

13 and 

14 (2) in section 257 (as redesignated by subsection 

15 (b))— 

16 (A) in subsection (b)(3), by striking ‘‘2001 

17 and 2002’’ and inserting ‘‘2005 and 2006’’; 

18 (B) in the matter preceding subparagraph 

19 (A) of subsection (d)(1), by striking ‘‘the fiscal 

20 year 2001’’ and inserting ‘‘each of the fiscal 

21 years 2005 and 2006’’; and 

22 (C) by striking subsection (e). 

23 SEC. 6. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 

24 Title VI of chapter 2 of part I of the Foreign Assistance 

25 Act of 1961 (as added by section 3 of this Act and amended 
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1 by sections 4 and 5 of this Act) is further amended by add2 ing at the end the following new subtitle: 

3 ‘‘Subtitle D—Miscellaneous Provisions 

4 ‘‘SEC. 258. REPORT. 

5 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than December 31, 2005, 

6 and each December 31 thereafter, the Administrator of the 

7 Agency shall submit to the appropriate congressional com8 mittees a report that contains a detailed description of the 

9 implementation of this title for the previous fiscal year. 

10 ‘‘(b) CONTENTS.—The report shall contain the fol11 lowing: 

12 ‘‘(1) The number of grants provided under sec13 tion 252, with a listing of— 

14 ‘‘(A) the amount of each grant; 

15 ‘‘(B) the name of each implementing part16 ner organization; and 

17 ‘‘(C) a listing of the number of countries re18 ceiving assistance authorized by sections 252. 

19 ‘‘(2) The results of the monitoring system re20 quired under section 253. 

21 ‘‘(3) The process of developing and applying pov22 erty assessment procedures required under section 

23 254. 

24 ‘‘(4) The percentage of assistance furnished 

25 under section 252 that was allocated to the very poor 
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1 based on the data collected using the certified methods 

2 required by section 254. 

3 ‘‘(5) The absolute number of the very poor 

4 reached with assistance furnished under section 252. 

5 ‘‘(6) The amount of assistance provided under 

6 section 252 through central mechanisms. 

7 ‘‘(7) The name of each country that receives as8 sistance under section 256 and the amount of such as9 sistance. 

10 ‘‘(8) An estimate of the percentage of bene11 ficiaries of assistance under this title who are women, 

12 including, to the extent practicable, the percentage of 

13 these women who have been victims of sex trafficking, 

14 as well as information on efforts to provide assistance 

15 under this title to women who have been victims of 

16 severe forms of trafficking or who were previously in17 volved in prostitution. 

18 ‘‘(9) Any additional information relating to the 

19 provision of assistance authorized by this title, in20 cluding the use of the poverty measurement tools re21 quired by section 254, or additional information on 

22 assistance provided by the United States to support 

23 microenterprise development under this title or any 

24 other provision of law. 
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1 ‘‘(10) An estimate of the percentage of bene2 ficiaries of assistance under this title in countries 

3 where a strong relationship between poverty and race 

4 or ethnicity has been demonstrated. 

5 ‘‘(c) LIMITATION.—The content of the report required 

6 by this section shall be produced by the Office established 

7 under section 252(b)(1), and shall be made available for free 

8 electronic distribution through such Office. 

9 ‘‘SEC. 259. DEFINITIONS. 

10 ‘‘ In this title: 

11 ‘‘(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘Adminis12 trator’ means the Administrator of the Agency. 

13 ‘‘(2) AGENCY.—The term ‘Agency’ means the 

14 United States Agency for International Development. 

15 ‘‘(3) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT16 TEES.—The term ‘appropriate congressional commit17 tees’ means the Committee on International Relations 

18 of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 

19 Foreign Relations of the Senate. 

20 ‘‘(4) BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT SERVICES.—The 

21 term ‘business development services’ means support 

22 for the growth of microenterprises through training, 

23 technical assistance, marketing assistance, improved 

24 production technologies, and other related services. 
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1 ‘‘(5) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘Director’ means the 

2 Director of the Office. 

3 ‘‘(6) ELIGIBLE IMPLEMENTING PARTNER ORGANI4 ZATION.—The term ‘eligible implementing partner or5 ganization’ means an entity eligible to receive assist6 ance under this title which is— 

7 ‘‘(A) a United States or an indigenous pri8 vate voluntary organization; 

9 ‘‘(B) a United States or an indigenous cred10 it union; 

11 ‘‘(C) a United States or an indigenous co12 operative organization; 

13 ‘‘(D) an indigenous governmental or non14 governmental organization; 

15 ‘‘(E) a microenterprise institution; 

16 ‘‘(F) a microfinance institution; or 

17 ‘‘(G) a practitioner institution. 

18 ‘‘(7) MICROENTERPRISE INSTITUTION.—The term 

19 ‘microenterprise institution’ means a not-for-profit 

20 entity that provides services, including microfinance, 

21 training, or business development services, for 

22 microentreprise clients in foreign countries. 

23 ‘‘(8) MICROFINANCE INSTITUTION.—The term 

24 ‘microfinance institution’ means a not-for-profit enti25 ty or a regulated financial intermediary that directly 
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1 provides, or works to expand, the availability of cred2 it, savings, and other financial services to 

3 microentreprise clients in foreign countries. 

4 ‘‘(9) MICROFINANCE NETWORK.—The term 

5 ‘microfinance network’ means an affiliated group of 

6 practitioner institutions that provides services to its 

7 members, including financing, technical assistance, 

8 and accreditation, for the purpose of promoting the fi9 nancial sustainability and societal impact of micro10 enterprise assistance. 

11 ‘‘(10) OFFICE.—The term ‘Office’ means the Of12 fice of Microenterprise Development established under 

13 section 252(b)(1). 

14 ‘‘(11) PRACTITIONER INSTITUTION.—The term 

15 ‘practitioner institution’ means a not-for-profit entity 

16 or a regulated financial intermediary, including a 

17 microfinance network, that provides services, includ18 ing microfinance, training, or business development 

19 services, for microentreprise clients, or provides assist20 ance to microenterprise institutions in foreign coun21 tries. 

22 ‘‘(12) PRIVATE VOLUNTARY ORGANIZATION.—The 

23 term ‘private voluntary organization’ means a not24 for-profit entity that— 
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1 ‘‘(A) engages in and supports activities of 

2 an economic or social development or humani3 tarian nature for citizens in foreign countries; 

4 and 

5 ‘‘(B) is incorporated as such under the laws 

6 of the United States, including any of its states, 

7 territories or the District of Columbia, or of a 

8 foreign country. 

9 ‘‘(13) UNITED STATES-SUPPORTED MICRO10 FINANCE INSTITUTION.—The term ‘United States-sup11 ported microfinance institution’ means a financial 

12 intermediary that has received funds made available 

13 under this part for fiscal year 1980 or any subsequent 

14 fiscal year. 

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

16 those individuals— 

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

18 the poverty line established by the national gov19 ernment of the country in which those individ20 uals live; or 

21 ‘‘(B) living on less than the equivalent of $1 

22 per day.’’. 
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1 SEC. 7. REPEALS. 

2 (a) FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1961.—Section 131 

3 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2152a) 

4 is hereby repealed. 

5 (b) PUBLIC LAW 108–31.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 4 of Public Law 108– 

7 31 (22 U.S.C. 2151f note) is amended by striking sub8 section (b). 

9 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 4 of 

10 Public Law 108–31 is amended by striking ‘‘(a)’’ and 

11 all that follows through ‘‘Not later’’ and inserting 

12 ‘‘Not later’’. 

13 SEC. 8. REFERENCES. 

14 Any reference in a law, regulation, agreement, or other 

15 document of the United States to section 108, 131, or 132 

16 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 shall be deemed to 

17 be a reference to subtitle B of title VI of chapter 2 of part 

18 I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, subtitle A of title 

19 VI of chapter 2 of part I of such Act, or subtitle C of title 

20 VI of chapter 2 of part I of such Act, respectively. 
Union Calendar No. 262 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3818 

[Report No. 108–459] 

A BILL 

To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to 

for other purposes. enterprise development assistance programs, and improve the results and accountability of microAPRIL 2, 2004 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union,