(Sec. 105) Authorizes the President to provide grants and other assistance for programs to increase the availability of credit and other services to microenterprises (including micro- and small enterprises) lacking full access to capital training, technical assistance, and business development services through: (1) grants to microfinance institutions; (2) loans and guarantees to credit institutions (with a limit of $30 million per borrower); (3) grants to microenterprise institutions for training, technical assistance, and business development services; and (3) policy and regulatory programs at the country level.
Directs the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID) to establish: (1) a monitoring system that provides, among other things, for performance goals for microenterprise development grant assistance; (2) eligibility criteria for determining which entities shall carry out activities receiving credit assistance; and (3) a U.S. Microfinance Loan Facility to prevent the bankruptcy of microfinance institutions caused by natural disasters, war or civil conflict, national financial crisis, or other short-term financial movements that threaten the long-term development of such institutions. Authorizes appropriations.
(Sec. 108) Directs the President to report to the appropriate congressional committees on the most cost-effective methods and measurements for increasing the access of poor people overseas to credit, other financial services, and related training.
(Sec. 109) Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the administrator of AID and the Secretary of State should seek to support and strengthen the effectiveness of microfinance activities in United Nations (UN) agencies, such as the UN Development Program, which have provided key leadership in developing the microenterprise sector; and (2) the Secretary of the Treasury should instruct each U.S. Executive Director of the multilateral development banks to advocate the development of a coherent and coordinated strategy to support the microenterprise sector, including an increase of multilateral resource flows for building microenterprise retail and wholesale intermediaries.
(Sec. 110) Expresses the sense of Congress that the AID should consider Mexico as a key priority in its microenterprise funding allocations.
Title II: International Anti-Corruption and Good Governance Act of 2000 - International Anti-Corruption and Good Governance Act of 2000 - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to revise U.S. development cooperation policy to urge emphasis on (among other things) the promotion of good governance through combating corruption and improving transparency and accountability. Revises U.S. policy with respect to the provision of development assistance to foreign countries to require the President, in assessing the commitment and progress of a country to use such assistance to help satisfy basic human needs of its poor, to utilize certain criteria, including progress in combating corruption and improving transparency and accountability in the public and private sector.
(Sec. 204) Requires technical assistance provided by a certain Department of the Treasury program to foreign governments and foreign central banks of developing or transitional countries to include elements designed to combat anti-competitive, unethical, and corrupt activities, including protection against actions that may distort or inhibit transparency in market mechanisms and, to the extent applicable, privatization procedures.
(Sec. 205) Authorizes the President to establish programs that combat corruption, improve transparency and accountability, and promote other forms of good governance in developing countries or countries eligible to receive assistance under the Support for East European Democracy (SEED) Act of 1989. Requires the President to give priority to establishing programs in countries that received a significant amount of U.S. foreign assistance for the prior fiscal year, or in which the United States has a significant economic interest, and that continue to have the most persistent problems with public and private corruption. Requires the Secretary of State to report to specified congressional committees with respect to such programs. Authorizes appropriations.
Title III: International Academic Opportunity Act of 2000 - International Academic Opportunity Act of 2000 - Directs the Secretary of State, subject to the availability of appropriations, to establish a Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarships program of grants of up to $5,000 each to American college students of limited financial means for foreign study. Authorizes appropriations.
Title IV: Miscellaneous Provisions - Support for Overseas Cooperative Development Act - Declares that Congress supports the development and expansion of economic assistance programs that fully utilize cooperatives and credit unions, particularly those programs committed to: (1) international cooperative principles, democratic governance and involvement of women and ethnic minorities for economic and social development; (2) market-oriented and value-added activities with the potential to reach large numbers of low-income people and help them enter into mainstream economy; (3) strengthened participation of rural and urban poor to contribute to their country's economic development; and (4) utilization of technical assistance and training to better serve the member-owners.
(Sec. 401) Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 with respect to the goal of strengthening the participation of the rural and urban poor in their country's development through the use of development funds for technical and capital assistance in the development and use of cooperatives in less developed countries. Requires that priority be given to: (1) technical assistance to low-income farmers who form and develop member-owned cooperatives for farm supplies, marketing, and value-added processing; (2) the promotion of national credit union technical assistance that strengthens the ability of low-income people and micro-entrepreneurs to save and to have access to credit for their own economic advancement; (3) the support of rural electric and telecommunication cooperatives for access for rural people and villages that lack reliable electric and telecommunications services; and (4) the promotion of community-based cooperatives which provide employment opportunities and important services such as health clinics, self-help shelter, environmental improvements, group-owned businesses, and other activities.
(Sec. 402) Authorizes appropriations for development assistance to carry out activities of the Global Environment Center of the AID. Earmarks amounts for water and coastal resources activities.
(Sec. 403) Directs the Administrator of AID, in processing applications for the transportation of humanitarian assistance abroad, to give priority to applications for the transportation of disaster relief assistance.
(Sec. 404) Establishes a working capital fund for the AID for expenses of personal and nonpersonal services, equipment, and supplies for: (1) International Cooperative Administrative Support Services; and (2) rebates from the use of U.S. Government credit cards.
(Sec. 405) Amends the United Nations Participation Act of 1945 to increase the number of foreign service employees of the staff of the U.S. Mission to the UN who are provided living quarters in New York City, New York.
(Sec. 406) Amends Federal law to extend the availability to the Linguistic Data Consortium of the University of Pennsylvania Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Marti computer readable multilingual text and recorded speech in various languages.
(Sec. 407) Authorizes the Broadcasting Board of Governors to make available, upon request, to the Institute for Media Development previously broadcast audio and video materials produced by the Africa Division of the VOA.
Paul D. Coverdell Fellows Program Act of 2000 - Renames the Peace Corps Fellows-USA Program the Paul D. Coverdell Fellows Program.
Passed/agreed to in House: On passage Passed by voice vote.
On passage Passed by voice vote.
Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
Received in the Senate and read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations discharged by Unanimous Consent.
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations discharged by Unanimous Consent.
Measure laid before Senate by unanimous consent. (consideration: CR S9681-9682)
Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent.
Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent.
Message on Senate action sent to the House.
Mr. Gilman asked unanimous consent that the House agree to the Senate amendment.
Resolving differences -- House actions: On motion that the House agree to the Senate amendment Agreed to without objection.(consideration: CR H8886-8893; text as House agreed to Senate amendment: CR H8886-8892)
Enacted as Public Law 106-309
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On motion that the House agree to the Senate amendment Agreed to without objection. (consideration: CR H8886-8893; text as House agreed to Senate amendment: CR H8886-8892)
Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
Presented to President.
Presented to President.
Signed by President.
Signed by President.
Became Public Law No: 106-309.
Became Public Law No: 106-309.