I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2524 

To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to improve access to 

microenterprise by the very poor, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 13, 2011 

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself and Mr. RUSH) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to improve 

access to microenterprise by the very poor, 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 Em5 powerment and Job Creation Act of 2011’’. 


smartinez on DSK6TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 2524 IH

1 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF 

2 1961 TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO MICROENTER3 PRISE BY THE VERY POOR. 

4 (a) FINDINGS AND POLICY.—Section 251 of the For5 eign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2211) is amended 

6 by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

7 ‘‘(7) The very poor can utilize microfinance 

8 mechanisms and benefit from microenterprise oppor9 tunities, but they require innovative approaches that 

10 respond to their particular circumstances and 

11 needs.’’. 

12 (b) AUTHORIZATION; IMPLEMENTATION; TARGETED

13 ASSISTANCE.— 

14 (1) AUTHORIZATION.—Section 252(a) of the 

15 Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 

16 2211a(a)) is amended— 

17 (A) in paragraph (1) to read as follows: 

18 ‘‘(1) assistance for the purpose of expanding 

19 the availability of credit, savings, and other financial 

20 services to microfinance and microenterprise clients, 

21 particularly those who are unable to access such 

22 services through the private sector, and to increase 

23 the capacity of such clients to access such services 

24 through education, training, and mentoring;’’; 

25 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

26 the end; 


smartinez on DSK6TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 2524 IH

1 (C) by redesignating paragraph (4) as 

2 paragraph (5); and 

3 (D) by inserting after paragraph (3) the 

4 following new paragraph: 

5 ‘‘(4) assistance for value chain interventions 

6 that— 

7 ‘‘(A) benefit primarily the very poor popu8 lations; 

9 ‘‘(B) is integral to the success of a micro10 finance or microenterprise project; and 

11 ‘‘(C) includes measures to ensure that the 

12 value chain that is created or enhanced will be 

13 self-sustainable upon completion of the inter14 vention; and’’. 

15 (2) IMPLEMENTATION.—Section 252(b)(2) of 

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

17 2211a(b)(2)) is amended— 

18 (A) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking 

19 ‘‘$25,000,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$24,100,000’’; 

20 and 

21 (B) by adding at the end the following new 

22 subparagraph: 

23 ‘‘(D) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—For pur24 poses of subparagraph (C), the term ‘adminis25 trative costs’ does not include the salary and reVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:53 Jul 14, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2524.IH H2524

smartinez on DSK6TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 2524 IH

1 lated costs of personnel who train, mentor, 

2 monitor, and verify the accountability of groups 

3 participating in projects based on an informal 

4 savings-led group model.’’. 

5 (3) TARGETED ASSISTANCE.—Section 252 of 

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

7 2211a) is amended by striking subsection (c) and in8 serting the following new subsection: 

9 ‘‘(c) TARGETED ASSISTANCE.—In carrying out sus10 tainable poverty-focused programs under subsection (a)— 

11 ‘‘(1)(A) 50 percent of all microenterprise re12 sources shall be targeted to clients who are very 

13 poor; and 

14 ‘‘(B) clients who receive resources specified in 

15 subparagraph (A) shall include individuals who— 

16 ‘‘(i) do not have permanent, secure shelter; 

17 ‘‘(ii) are living in camps administered by 

18 the United Nations High Commissioner for 

19 Refugees for refugees and internally displaced 

20 persons; 

21 ‘‘(iii) are victims or potential victims of se22 vere forms of trafficking in persons or are 

23 women who are victims of or susceptible to 

24 other forms of exploitation and violence; or 


smartinez on DSK6TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 2524 IH

1 ‘‘(iv) are widows, orphans, or vulnerable 

2 children; and 

3 ‘‘(2) assistance shall be distributed taking into 

4 account country and regional assistance targets es5 tablished by the Director that are based on the pov6 erty ratios of countries eligible for assistance from 

7 the International Development Association.’’. 

8 (c) REPORT.—Section 258(b) of the Foreign Assist9 ance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2214(b)) is amended by add10 ing at the end the following paragraphs: 

11 ‘‘(12) A description of the efforts made to no12 tify new potential program implementers that pro13 vide microenterprise opportunities to the very poor, 

14 including faith-based and community-based organi15 zations, of assistance available pursuant to section 

16 252(a). 

17 ‘‘(13) A list of organizations that provided as18 sistance to individuals listed in section 252(c)(1)(B), 

19 the amount of assistance provided to each organiza20 tion, and a description of the microenterprise 

21 projects funded through each organization. 

22 ‘‘(14) The country and regional poverty targets 

23 established pursuant to section 252(c)(2), and a 

24 comparison as to how assistance pursuant to subVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:53 Jul 14, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2524.IH H2524

smartinez on DSK6TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 2524 IH

1 section (a) is being distributed relative to such tar2 gets. 

3 ‘‘(15) In order to ensure compliance with sec4 tion 253(b)(4) and to increase access by the very 

5 poor to microenterprise opportunities, an identifica6 tion of— 

7 ‘‘(A) the poverty assessment tools cur8 rently available for identifying the very poor 

9 that have been evaluated by the Administrator 

10 of the Agency, acting through the Director of 

11 the office, during the applicable fiscal year; and 

12 ‘‘(B) those tools identified under subpara13 graph (A) that have been determined to meet 

14 the Agency’s requirements for accountability 

15 and transparency and have been approved for 

16 such purpose.’’. 

17 (d) DEFINITIONS.—Section 259 of the Foreign As18 sistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2214a) is amended— 

19 (1) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘the Com20 mittee on International Relations’’ and inserting 

21 ‘‘the Committee on Foreign Affairs’’; 

22 (2) by redesignating paragraph (14) as para23 graph (15); 

24 (3) by inserting after paragraph (13) the fol25 lowing new paragraph: 


smartinez on DSK6TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 2524 IH

1 ‘‘(14) VALUE CHAIN.—The term ‘value chain’ 

2 means all or part of a market system to produce and 

3 deliver goods from the extraction of raw materials or 

4 production of other inputs to final consumer pur5 chase, including the flow of financing among the 

6 value chain actors for the purpose of delivering prod7 ucts to market.’’; and 

8 (4) in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (15) (as 

9 redesignated), by striking ‘‘$1’’ and inserting 

10 ‘‘$1.25’’. 

11 SEC. 3. ENHANCED PROCUREMENT POLICIES FOR MICRO12 FINANCE PROGRAMS. 

13 For the purpose of improving the procurement proc14 ess for microfinance programs, when administering assist15 ance under section 252 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 

16 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2211a), the Administrator shall— 

17 (1) develop a formal past performance system 

18 and database for acquisition and assistance instru19 ments to be used in the evaluation of all future com20 petitions for such instruments; and 

21 (2) develop rules regarding potential organiza22 tional conflicts of interest related to the design, eval23 uation, and audit of programs in relation to the im24 plementation of such programs that apply both to 

25 acquisition and assistance instruments. 


smartinez on DSK6TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 2524 IH

1 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 (a) GRANT ASSISTANCE.—Section 252 of the Foreign 

3 Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2211a), as amended 

4 by this Act, is further amended by adding at the end the 

5 following subsection: 

6 ‘‘(d) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Of the amounts au7 thorized to be available to carry out this part, the United 

8 States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and 

9 Malaria Act of 2003, the FREEDOM Support Act, the 

10 International Security Assistance Act of 1978, the Agri11 cultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954, 

12 and the Support for East European Democracy (SEED) 

13 Act of 1989, including local currencies derived from such 

14 funds, there are authorized to be appropriated 

15 $264,930,000 for each of the fiscal years 2012 through 

16 2016 to carry out this subtitle.’’. 

17 (b) CREDIT ASSISTANCE.—Section 256(f)(1) of the 

18 Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2212(f)(1)) 

19 is amended— 

20 (1) by striking ‘‘such sums as may be nec21 essary’’ and inserting ‘‘$2,070,000’’; and 

22 (2) by striking ‘‘2005 through 2009’’ and in23 serting ‘‘2012 through 2016’’. 

Æ 


smartinez on DSK6TPTVN1PROD with BILLS