In the Senate of the United States,
November 13, 2002.
Resolved, That the bill from the House of Representa-
tives (H.R. 4073) entitled ‘‘An Act to amend the Microenter-
prise for Self-Reliance Act of 2000 and the Foreign Assist-
ance Act of 1961 to increase assistance for the poorest people
in developing countries under microenterprise assistance pro-
grams under those Acts, and for other purposes.’’, do pass
with the following
AMENDMENT:
Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:
SECTION 1. AMENDMENTS TO THE MICROENTERPRISE FOR
SELF-RELIANCE ACT OF 2000.
(a) PURPOSES.—Section 103 of the Microenterprise for
Self-Reliance Act of 2000 (Public Law 106–309) is
amended—
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(1) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘microentre-
preneurs’’ and inserting ‘‘microenterprise house-
holds’’;
(2) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the
end;
(3) in paragraph (5)—
(A) by striking ‘‘microfinance policy’’ and
inserting ‘‘microenterprise policy’’;
(B) by striking ‘‘the poorest of the poor’’
and inserting ‘‘the very poor’’; and
(C) by striking the period at the end and
inserting ‘‘; and’’; and
(4) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(6) to ensure that in the implementation of this
title at least 50 percent of all microenterprise assist-
ance under this title, and the amendments made
under this title, shall be targeted to the very poor.’’.
(b) DEFINITIONS.—Section 104 of such Act is
amended—
(1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘for micro-
entrepreneurs’’ and inserting ‘‘to microentrepreneurs
and their households’’; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(5) VERY POOR.—The term ‘very poor’ means
individuals—
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‘‘(A) living in the bottom 50 percent below
the poverty line established by the national gov-
ernment of the country in which those individ-
uals live; or
‘‘(B) living on the equivalent of less than $1
per day.’’.
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE MICRO- AND SMALL ENTER-
PRISE 
DEVELOPMENT 
CREDITS 
PROGRAM
UNDER THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF
1961.
(a) FINDINGS AND POLICY.—Section 108(a)(2) of the
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151f(a)(2)) is
amended by striking ‘‘the development of the enterprises of
the poor’’ and inserting ‘‘the access to financial services and
the development of microenterprises’’.
(b) PROGRAM.—Section 108(b) of such Act (22 U.S.C.
2151f(b)) is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(b) PROGRAM.—To carry out the policy set forth in
subsection (a), the President is authorized to provide assist-
ance to increase the availability of financial services to
microenterprise households lacking full access to credit, in-
cluding through—
‘‘(1) loans and guarantees to microfinance insti-
tutions for the purpose of expanding the availability
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of savings and credit to poor and low-income house-
holds;
‘‘(2) training programs for microfinance institu-
tions in order to enable them to better meet the finan-
cial services needs of their clients; and
‘‘(3) training programs for clients in order to
enable them to make better use of credit, increase their
financial literacy, and to better manage their enter-
prises to improve their quality of life.’’.
(c) ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA.—Section 108(c) of such
Act (22 U.S.C. 2151f(c)) is amended—
(1) in the first sentence of the matter preceding
paragraph (1)—
(A) by striking ‘‘credit institutions’’ and in-
serting ‘‘microfinance institutions’’; and
(B) by striking ‘‘micro- and small enter-
prises’’ and inserting ‘‘microenterprise house-
holds’’; and
(2) in paragraphs (1) and (2), by striking ‘‘cred-
it’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘financial
services’’.
(d) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENT.—Section 108(d) of
such Act (22 U.S.C. 2151f(d)) is amended by striking
‘‘micro- and small enterprise programs’’ and inserting
‘‘programs for microenterprise households’’.
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(e) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Section 108(f)(1) of
such Act (22 U.S.C. 2151f(f)(1)) is amended by striking
‘‘for each of fiscal years 2001 and 2002’’ and inserting ‘‘for
each of fiscal years 2001 through 2004’’.
(f) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 108 of such
Act (22 U.S.C. 2151f) is amended in the heading to read
as follows:
‘‘SEC. 108. MICROENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT CREDITS.’’.
SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE MICROENTERPRISE DEVEL-
OPMENT 
GRANT 
ASSISTANCE 
PROGRAM
UNDER THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF
1961.
(a) FINDINGS AND POLICY.—Section 131(a) of the For-
eign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2152a(a)) is amend-
ed to read as follows:
‘‘(a) FINDINGS AND POLICY.—Congress finds and de-
clares that—
‘‘(1) access to financial services and the develop-
ment of microenterprise are vital factors in the stable
growth of developing countries and in the development
of free, open, and equitable international economic
systems;
‘‘(2) it is therefore in the best interest of the
United States to facilitate access to financial services
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and assist the development of microenterprise in de-
veloping countries;
‘‘(3) access to financial services and the develop-
ment of microenterprises can be supported by pro-
grams providing credit, savings, training, technical
assistance, business development services, and other fi-
nancial and non-financial services; and
‘‘(4) given the relatively high percentage of popu-
lations living in rural areas of developing countries,
and the combined high incidence of poverty in rural
areas and growing income inequality between rural
and urban markets, microenterprise programs should
target both rural and urban poor.’’.
(b) AUTHORIZATION.—Section 131(b) of such Act (22
U.S.C. 2152a(b)) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (3)(A)(i), by striking ‘‘entre-
preneurs’’ and inserting ‘‘clients’’; and
(2) in paragraph (4)(D)—
(A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘very small
loans’’ and inserting ‘‘financial services to poor
entrepreneurs’’; and
(B) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘micro-
finance’’ and inserting ‘‘microenterprise’’.
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(c) MONITORING SYSTEM.—Section 131(c) of such Act
(22 U.S.C. 2152a(c)) is amended by striking paragraph (4)
and inserting the following:
‘‘(4) adopts the widespread use of proven and ef-
fective poverty assessment tools to successfully identify
the very poor and ensure that they receive needed
microenterprise loans, savings, and assistance.’’.
(d) DEVELOPMENT
AND APPLICATION
OF POVERTY
MEASUREMENT METHODS.—Section 131 of such Act (22
U.S.C. 2152a) is amended—
(1) by redesignating subsections (d) and (e) as
subsections (e) and (f), respectively; and
(2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol-
lowing:
‘‘(d) DEVELOPMENT AND CERTIFICATION OF POVERTY
MEASUREMENT METHODS; APPLICATION OF METHODS.—
‘‘(1) DEVELOPMENT
AND
CERTIFICATION.—(A)
The Administrator of the United States Agency for
International Development, in consultation with
microenterprise institutions and other appropriate or-
ganizations, shall develop no fewer than two low-cost
methods for partner institutions to use to assess the
poverty levels of their current or prospective clients.
The United States Agency for International Develop-
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(f) DEFINITIONS.—Section 131(f) of such Act, as redes-
ignated by subsection (d), is amended by adding at the end
the following:
‘‘(5) VERY POOR.—The term ‘very poor’ means
those individuals—
‘‘(A) living in the bottom 50 percent below
the poverty line established by the national gov-
ernment of the country in which those individ-
uals live; or
‘‘(B) living on less than the equivalent of $1
per day.’’.
SEC. 4. REPORT TO CONGRESS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than September 30, 2005,
the Administrator of the United States Agency for Inter-
national Development shall submit to Congress a report
that documents the process of developing and applying pov-
erty assessment procedures with its partners.
(b) REPORTS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2006 AND BEYOND.—
Beginning with fiscal year 2006, the Administrator of the
United States Agency for International Development shall
annually submit to Congress on a timely basis a report that
addresses the United States Agency for International Devel-
opment’s compliance with the Microenterprise for Self-Reli-
ance Act of 2000 by documenting—
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(1) the percentage of its resources that were allo-
cated to the very poor (as defined in paragraph (5)
of section 131(f) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961
(22 U.S.C. 2152a(f)(5))) based on the data collected
from its partners using the certified methods; and
(2) the absolute number of the very poor reached.
Attest:
Secretary.