H. R. 1143—11
the global microenterprise sector in a way that maintains
market principles while ensuring that the very poor overseas,
particularly women, obtain access to financial services overseas;
(2) shall provide guidelines and recommendations for—
(A) instruments to assist microenterprise networks to
develop multi-country and regional microlending programs;
(B) technical assistance to foreign governments, foreign
central banks, and regulatory entities to improve the policy
environment 
for 
microfinance 
institutions, 
and 
to
strengthen the capacity of supervisory bodies to supervise
microfinance institutions;
(C) the potential for Federal chartering of United
States-based international microfinance network institu-
tions, including proposed legislation;
(D) instruments to increase investor confidence in
microfinance institutions which would strengthen the long-
term financial position of the microfinance institutions and
attract capital from private sector entities and individuals,
such as a rating system for microfinance institutions and
local credit bureaus;
(E) an agenda for integrating microfinance into United
States foreign policy initiatives seeking to develop and
strengthen the global finance sector; and
(F) innovative instruments to attract funds from the
capital markets, such as instruments for leveraging funds
from the local commercial banking sector, and the
securitization of microloan portfolios; and
(3) shall include a section that assesses the need for a
microenterprise accelerated growth fund and that includes—
(A) a description of the benefits of such a fund;
(B) an identification of which microenterprise institu-
tions might become eligible for assistance from such fund;
(C) a description of how such a fund could be adminis-
tered;
(D) a recommendation on which agency or agencies
of the United States Government should administer the
fund and within which such agency the fund should be
located; and
(E) a recommendation on how soon it might be nec-
essary to establish such a fund in order to provide the
support necessary for microenterprise institutions involved
in microenterprise development.
(c) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED.—In
this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congressional committees’’ means
the Committee on International Relations of the House of Rep-
resentatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.
SEC. 109. UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOP-
MENT AS GLOBAL LEADER AND COORDINATOR OF
BILATERAL 
AND 
MULTILATERAL 
MICROENTERPRISE
ASSISTANCE ACTIVITIES.
(a) FINDINGS AND POLICY.—Congress finds and declares that—
(1) the United States can provide leadership to other
bilateral and multilateral development agencies as such agen-
cies expand their support to the microenterprise sector; and
(2) the United States should seek to improve coordination
among G–7 countries in the support of the microenterprise
H. R. 1143—12
sector in order to leverage the investment of the United States
with that of other donor nations.
(b) SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the Congress
that—
(1) the Administrator of the United States Agency for Inter-
national Development and the Secretary of State should seek
to support and strengthen the effectiveness of microfinance
activities in United Nations agencies, such as the United
Nations Development Program (UNDP), which have provided
key leadership in developing the microenterprise sector; and
(2) the Secretary of the Treasury should instruct each
United States Executive Director of the multilateral develop-
ment banks (MDBs) to advocate the development of a coherent
and coordinated strategy to support the microenterprise sector
and an increase of multilateral resource flows for the purposes
of building microenterprise retail and wholesale intermediaries.
SEC. 110. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS ON CONSIDERATION OF MEXICO
AS A KEY PRIORITY IN MICROENTERPRISE FUNDING
ALLOCATIONS.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following findings:
(1) An estimated 45,000,000 of Mexico’s 100,000,000 popu-
lation currently lives below the poverty line, accounting for
20 percent of all poor in Latin America.
(2) Mexico cannot create enough salaried jobs to absorb
new workers entering the labor force.
(3) While many poor families depend on microenterprise
initiatives to generate a livelihood, the United States Agency
for International Development currently has two microcredit
projects in Mexico, receiving less than 1 percent of overall
microenterprise funding in Latin America and the Caribbean
during the last decade.
(4) Mexico’s microenterprise activity has been constrained
because its financial institutions cannot expand financial serv-
ices to a larger clientele due to a lack of capital, inefficient
financial and administrative management, and a lack of institu-
tional support for microfinance institutions’ particular needs.
(5) Mexican nongovernmental organizations, such as
Compartamos, have demonstrated competence in developing
local microfinance programs.
(6) On July 2, 2000, Vicente Fox Quesada of the Alliance
for Change was elected President of the United Mexican States.
(7) 
The 
President-elect 
of 
Mexico 
has 
identified
entrepreneurship and the start-up of new microcredit institu-
tions as key economic priorities.
(8) Microenterprise and entrepreneurial initiatives have
proven to be successful components of free market development
and economic stability.
(b) SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the Congress
that—
(1) providing Mexico’s poor with economic opportunity and
microfinance services is fundamental to Mexico’s economic
development;
(2) microenterprise can have a positive impact on Mexico’s
free market development; and
H. R. 1143—13
(3) the United States Agency for International Development
should consider Mexico as a key priority in its microenterprise
funding allocations.
TITLE II—INTERNATIONAL ANTI-COR-
RUPTION AND GOOD GOVERNANCE
ACT OF 2000
SEC. 201. SHORT TITLE.
This title may be cited as the ‘‘International Anti-Corruption
and Good Governance Act of 2000’’.
SEC. 202. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:
(1) Widespread corruption endangers the stability and secu-
rity of societies, undermines democracy, and jeopardizes the
social, political, and economic development of a society.
(2) Corruption facilitates criminal activities, such as money
laundering, hinders economic development, inflates the costs
of doing business, and undermines the legitimacy of the govern-
ment and public trust.
(3) In January 1997 the United Nations General Assembly
adopted a resolution urging member states to carefully consider
the problems posed by the international aspects of corrupt
practices and to study appropriate legislative and regulatory
measures to ensure the transparency and integrity of financial
systems.
(4) The United States was the first country to criminalize
international bribery through the enactment of the Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 and United States leadership
was instrumental in the passage of the Organization for Eco-
nomic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Convention on
Combatting Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International
Business Transactions.
(5) The Vice President, at the Global Forum on Fighting
Corruption in 1999, declared corruption to be a direct threat
to the rule of law and the Secretary of State declared corruption
to be a matter of profound political and social consequence
for our efforts to strengthen democratic governments.
(6) The Secretary of State, at the Inter-American Develop-
ment Bank’s annual meeting in March 2000, declared that
despite certain economic achievements, democracy is being
threatened as citizens grow weary of the corruption and favor-
itism of their official institutions and that efforts must be
made to improve governance if respect for democratic institu-
tions is to be regained.
(7) In May 1996 the Organization of American States (OAS)
adopted the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption
requiring countries to provide various forms of international
cooperation and assistance to facilitate the prevention, inves-
tigation, and prosecution of acts of corruption.
(8) Independent media, committed to fighting corruption
and trained in investigative journalism techniques, can both
educate the public on the costs of corruption and act as a
deterrent against corrupt officials.
H. R. 1143—14
(9) Competent and independent judiciary, founded on a
merit-based selection process and trained to enforce contracts
and protect property rights, is critical for creating a predictable
and consistent environment for transparency in legal proce-
dures.
(10) Independent and accountable legislatures, responsive
political parties, and transparent electoral processes, in conjunc-
tion with professional, accountable, and transparent financial
management and procurement policies and procedures, are
essential to the promotion of good governance and to the combat
of corruption.
(11) Transparent business frameworks, including modern
commercial codes and intellectual property rights, are vital
to enhancing economic growth and decreasing corruption at
all levels of society.
(12) The United States should attempt to improve account-
ability in foreign countries, including by—
(A) promoting transparency and accountability through
support for independent media, promoting financial disclo-
sure by public officials, political parties, and candidates
for public office, open budgeting processes, adequate and
effective internal control systems, suitable financial
management systems, and financial and compliance
reporting;
(B) supporting the establishment of audit offices,
inspectors general offices, third party monitoring of govern-
ment procurement processes, and anti-corruption agencies;
(C) promoting responsive, transparent, and accountable
legislatures that ensure legislative oversight and whistle-
blower protection;
(D) promoting judicial reforms that criminalize corrup-
tion and promoting law enforcement that prosecutes corrup-
tion;
(E) fostering business practices that promote trans-
parent, ethical, and competitive behavior in the private
sector through the development of an effective legal frame-
work for commerce, including anti-bribery laws, commercial
codes that incorporate international standards for business
practices, and protection of intellectual property rights;
and
(F) promoting free and fair national, state, and local
elections.
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this title is to ensure that United
States assistance programs promote good governance by assisting
other countries to combat corruption throughout society and to
improve transparency and accountability at all levels of government
and throughout the private sector.
SEC. 203. DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE POLICY.
(a) GENERAL POLICY.—Section 101(a) of the Foreign Assistance
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151(a)) is amended in the fifth sentence—
(1) by striking ‘‘four’’ and inserting ‘‘five’’;
(2) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph (3);
(3) in paragraph (4), by striking the period at the end
and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and
(4) by adding at the end the following: