I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3175
To implement measures to help alleviate the poor living conditions in Africa. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 30, 2005
Mr. MCDERMOTT (for himself, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. MCCOLLUM of 
Minnesota, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. MCNULTY, Mrs. 
CHRISTENSEN, Mr. MEEKS of New York, and Ms. MILLENDER-MCDON-
ALD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Financial Serv-
ices, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each 
case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of 
the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To implement measures to help alleviate the poor living 
conditions in Africa.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Answer Africa’s Call 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following:
(1) African poverty and stagnation are the 
greatest tragedy of our time and demand a forceful 
response by the United States. 
(2) The world, especially the United States, is 
awash with wealth on a scale that has never been 
seen in human history. 
(3) We live in a world where new medicines and 
medical techniques have eradicated many of the dis-
eases and ailments that plagued the rich world. 
(4) In Africa, some 4,000,000 children under 
the age of five die each year, two-thirds of them 
from illnesses that cost very little to treat; malaria 
is the biggest single killer of African children, and 
half of those deaths could be avoided if the parents 
of these children had access to diagnosis and drugs 
that cost little more than $1 per dose. 
(5) We live in a world where scientists can map 
the human genome and have the technology to clone 
a human being. 
(6) In Africa, we allow more than 250,000 
women die each year from complications in preg-
nancy or childbirth. 
(7) We live in a world where the Internet in the 
blink of an eye can transfer more information than 
any human brain could hold.
(8) In Africa each day, some 40,000,000 chil-
dren are not able to go to school. 
(9) We live in a world which, faced by one of 
the most devastating diseases ever seen, AIDS, has 
developed the antiretroviral drugs to control its ad-
vance. 
(10) In Africa, where 25,000,000 people are in-
fected with AIDS, antiretroviral drugs are not made 
generally available; as a result, 2,000,000 people will 
die of AIDS in 2005. 
(11) We live in a world where rich nations 
spend as much as the entire income of all the people 
in Africa subsidizing the unnecessary production of 
unwanted 
food, 
in 
an 
amount 
of 
almost 
$1,000,000,000 each day. 
(12) In Africa, hunger is a key factor in more 
deaths than those caused by all of the continent’s in-
fectious diseases combined. 
(13) We live in a world where every cow in Eu-
rope receives almost $2 each day in government sub-
sidies. 
(14) In Africa the average daily income is ap-
proximately $1.
(15) The contrast between the lives led by those 
who live in rich countries and those of poor people 
in Africa is the greatest scandal of our age. 
(16) One in six children in Africa dies before 
reaching the age of 5. 
(17) Two-thirds of all the African children who 
die under the age of 5 could be saved by low-cost 
treatments such as vitamin A, and a tenth of all the 
diseases suffered by African children are caused by 
intestinal worms that infect 200,000,000 people and 
could be treated for just 25 cents per child. 
(18) More than 300,000,000 Africans—42 per-
cent of Africa’s population—still do not have access 
to safe water, and 60 percent do not have access to 
basic sanitation. 
(19) 62 percent of all people aged 15–24 years 
who live with HIV are found in Africa. 
(20) Africa had 43,000,000 orphans in 2003, of 
which AIDS was responsible for 12,000,000. 
(21) In Zambia, 71 percent of child prostitutes 
are orphans. 
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
The Congress supports implementing the rec-
ommendations of the Commission for Africa, which call 
for rich nations to increase foreign assistance to Africa,
provide debt relief, eliminate trade distorting agricultural 
subsidies, and remove insidious trade barriers that impede 
economic opportunity in sub-Saharan Africa. 
SEC. 4. IMPOSITION OF INDIVIDUAL INCOME TAX SUR-
CHARGE TO FUND INTERNATIONAL FINANCE 
FACILITY. 
(a) IMPOSITION OF TAX.—Section 1 of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to imposition of tax on 
individuals) is amended by adding at the end the following 
new subsection: 
‘‘(j) ADDITIONAL INCOME TAX.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If the adjusted gross in-
come of an individual exceeds the threshold amount, 
the tax imposed by this section (determined without 
regard to this subsection) shall be increased by an 
amount equal to 0.8 percent of so much of the ad-
justed gross income as exceeds the threshold 
amount. 
‘‘(2) THRESHOLD AMOUNTS.—For purposes of 
this 
subsection, 
the 
term 
‘threshold 
amount’ 
means—
‘‘(A) $1,000,000 in the case of a joint re-
turn, and 
‘‘(B) $500,000 in the case of any other re-
turn.
‘‘(3) TAX
NOT
TO
APPLY
TO
ESTATES
AND 
TRUSTS.—This subsection shall not apply to an es-
tate or trust. 
‘‘(4) TERMINATION.—This subsection shall not 
apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 
2010.’’. 
(b) ESTABLISHMENT
OF UNITED STATES INTER-
NATIONAL FINANCE FACILITY TRUST FUND.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter A of chapter 98 
of such Code (relating to trust fund code) is amend-
ed by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 9511. UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL FINANCE FA-
CILITY TRUST FUND. 
‘‘(a) CREATION OF TRUST FUND.—There is estab-
lished in the Treasury of the United States a trust fund 
to be known as the ‘United States International Finance 
Facility Trust Fund’ (referred to in this section as the 
‘Trust Fund’), consisting of such amounts as may be ap-
propriated or credited to the Trust Fund as provided in 
this section or section 9602(b). 
‘‘(b) TRANSFERS TO TRUST FUND.—There is hereby 
appropriated to the Trust Fund an amount equivalent to 
the increase in revenues received in the Treasury as the 
result of the surtax imposed under section 1(j).
‘‘(c) DISTRIBUTION OF AMOUNTS IN TRUST FUND.—
Amounts in the Trust Fund shall be available without fur-
ther appropriation to make expenditures in connection 
with United States commitments to the International Fi-
nance Facility.’’. 
(2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of 
sections for subchapter A of chapter 98 of such 
Code is amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘Sec. 9511. United States International Finance Facility Trust Fund.’’.
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 
December 31, 2005. 
(d) SECTION 15 NOT TO APPLY.—The amendment 
made by subsection (a) shall not be treated as a change 
in a rate of tax for purposes of section 15 of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986. 
SEC. 5. MODIFICATIONS TO PREFERENTIAL TRADE TREAT-
MENT FOR PRODUCTS OF SUB-SAHARAN AF-
RICAN COUNTRIES. 
(a) REMOVAL
OF
AGRICULTURE
TARIFF-RATE 
QUOTA LIMITATION; AGRICULTURAL SAFEGUARD.—Sec-
tion 503(b) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2463(b)) 
is amended by striking paragraph (3) and inserting the 
following: 
‘‘(3) AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—No quantity of an ag-
ricultural product subject to a tariff-rate quota 
that exceeds the in-quota amount shall be eligi-
ble for duty-free treatment under this title, ex-
cept as provided in subparagraph (B). 
‘‘(B) IMPORTS
FROM
COUNTRIES
DES-
IGNATED UNDER SECTION 506A.—Subparagraph 
(A) shall not apply to over-quota imports of ag-
ricultural products subject to a tariff-rate quota 
that are the growth, product, or manufacture of 
a country designated as a beneficiary sub-Saha-
ran African country under section 506A(a)(1). 
‘‘(4) SAFEGUARD
FOR
AGRICULTURAL
PROD-
UCTS.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The President shall 
assess a duty, in the amount prescribed under 
subparagraph (B), on over-quota imports of any 
agricultural product described in paragraph 
(3)(B) for which preferential treatment is 
claimed, if the President determines that the 
unit import price of the product when it enters 
the United States, determined on an F.O.B. 
basis, is less than the annual trigger price de-
termined in accordance with subparagraph (D).
‘‘(B) CALCULATION
OF
ADDITIONAL
DU-
TIES.—The amount of the additional duty as-
sessed under this subsection shall be deter-
mined as follows: 
‘‘(i) If the difference between the unit 
import price and the trigger price is less 
than, or equal to, 10 percent of the trigger 
price, no additional duty shall be imposed. 
‘‘(ii) If the difference between the unit 
import price and the trigger price is great-
er than 10 percent, but less than or equal 
to 40 percent, of the trigger price, the ad-
ditional duty shall be equal to 30 percent 
of the difference between the preferential 
tariff rate and the column 1 general rate 
of duty imposed under the HTS on like ar-
ticles at the time the additional duty is im-
posed. 
‘‘(iii) If the difference between the 
unit import price and the trigger price is 
greater than 40 percent, but less than or 
equal to 60 percent, of the trigger price, 
the additional duty shall be equal to 50 
percent of the difference between the pref-
erential tariff rate and the column 1 gen-
eral rate of duty imposed under the HTS 
on like articles at the time the additional 
duty is imposed. 
‘‘(iv) If the difference between the 
unit import price and the trigger price is 
greater than 60 percent, but less than or 
equal to 75 percent, of the trigger price, 
the additional duty shall be equal to 70 
percent of the difference between the pref-
erential tariff rate and the column 1 gen-
eral rate of duty imposed under the HTS 
on like articles at the time the additional 
duty is imposed. 
‘‘(v) If the difference between the unit 
import price and the trigger price is great-
er than 75 percent of the trigger price, the 
additional duty shall be equal to 100 per-
cent of the difference between the pref-
erential tariff rate and the column 1 gen-
eral rate of duty imposed under the HTS 
on like articles at the time the additional 
duty is imposed. 
‘‘(C) EXCEPTIONS.—No additional duty 
under this paragraph shall be assessed on an 
agricultural product if, at the time of entry into
the customs territory of the United States, the 
product is subject to import relief under chap-
ter 1 of title II of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 
U.S.C. 2251 et seq.). 
‘‘(D) CALCULATION OF TRIGGER PRICE.—
(i) Not later than 60 days after the date of the 
enactment of the Answer Africa’s Call Act, and 
annually thereafter, the President shall, in con-
sultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, es-
tablish the annual trigger price for each over-
quota agricultural product described in para-
graph (3)(B), and shall publish such prices in 
the Federal Register. The President shall estab-
lish the trigger price for a product at a level not 
below the 3-year average import price for that 
product. 
‘‘(ii) Not later than 30 days before pub-
lishing the trigger prices in the Federal Reg-
ister under clause (i), the President shall notify 
and consult with the Committees on Ways and 
Means and Agriculture of the House of Rep-
resentatives and the Committees on Finance 
and Agriculture of the Senate on the proposed 
trigger prices.