To amend the Millennium Challenge Act of 2003 to extend the authority to provide assistance to countries seeking to become eligible countries for purposes of that Act.

Amends the Millennium Challenge Act of 2003 to repeal the FY 2004 funding limitation for the "threshold program," which assists a candidate low-income country to become eligible to enter into an economic development Millennium Challenge Compact with the United States. (Matches "threshold program" duration with the Compact program.)

[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4660 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4660

 To amend the Millennium Challenge Act of 2003 to extend the authority 
to provide assistance to countries seeking to become eligible countries 
                       for purposes of that Act.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 23, 2004

 Mr. Lantos (for himself, Mr. Hyde, Mr. Berman, Mr. Burton of Indiana, 
 Mr. Faleomavaega, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Brown of Ohio, Mr. Ballenger, 
Mr. Engel, Mr. Houghton, Mr. Meeks of New York, Mr. Green of Wisconsin, 
   Ms. Lee, Mr. Weller, Mr. Crowley, Mr. McCotter, Mr. Hoeffel, Mr. 
  Blumenauer, Mr. Schiff, and Ms. McCollum) introduced the following 
  bill; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Millennium Challenge Act of 2003 to extend the authority 
to provide assistance to countries seeking to become eligible countries 
                       for purposes of that Act.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS; PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) On March 14, 2002, the President stated: ``America 
        supports the international development goals in the U.N. 
        Millennium Declaration, and believes that these goals are a 
        shared responsibility of developed and developing countries.''.
            (2) Section 201(b)(4) of H.R. 1950, as passed by the House 
        of Representatives on July 16, 2003, states that it is the 
        policy of the United States to support compacts of the 
        Millennium Challenge Account which, among other things, aim 
        ``to reduce poverty by significantly increasing the economic 
        growth trajectory of beneficiary countries through investing in 
        the productive potential of the people of such countries''.
            (3) On May 10, 2004, the President recognized the link 
        between global poverty and the national security of the United 
        States by stating: ``In many nations, poverty remains chronic 
        and desperate. Half the world's people still live on less than 
        $2 a day. This divide between wealth and poverty, between 
        opportunity and misery, is far more than a challenge to our 
        compassion. Persistent poverty and oppression can spread 
        despair across an entire nation, and they can turn nations of 
        great potential into the recruiting grounds of terrorists.''.
            (4) Section 602 of the Millennium Challenge Act of 2003 (22 
        U.S.C. 7701) states that a purpose of that Act is ``the 
        elimination of extreme poverty''.
            (5) The Report of the Committee on International Relations 
        to accompany H.R. 2441 of the 108th Congress (H. Rept. 108-205) 
        states that ``[f]or the Millennium Challenge Account to be 
        successful as an incentive for future reform as well as a 
        reward for past reform, it must offer opportunities for those 
        low-income countries whose institutions do not yet meet all the 
        eligibility criteria but who are demonstrating partial success 
        in meeting the eligibility criteria''.
            (6) The purpose of section 616 of the Millennium Challenge 
        Act of 2003 (22 U.S.C. 7715), and the ``threshold program'' 
        established pursuant to such section by the Millennium 
        Challenge Corporation, in consultation with the United States 
        Agency for International Development, is to provide assistance 
        to the low-income countries described in paragraph (5) in order 
        to assist such countries to become eligible countries under the 
        Act.
            (7) Although the overall Millennium Challenge Act of 2003 
        (22 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.) is authorized to be funded for both 
        fiscal years 2004 and 2005, the ``threshold program'' under 
        section 616 of such Act is authorized to be funded only for 
        fiscal year 2004.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to amend the Millennium 
Challenge Act of 2003 to authorize funding of the ``threshold program'' 
under section 616 of such Act for the same duration as the 
authorization of funding for the overall Millennium Challenge Act of 
2003.

SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF AUTHORIZATION OF ASSISTANCE TO CERTAIN CANDIDATE 
              COUNTRIES.

    Section 616(d) of the Millennium Challenge Act of 2003 (22 U.S.C. 
7715(d)) is amended by striking ``for fiscal year 2004'' and inserting 
``for a fiscal year''.
                                 <all>