Legislation Relevant to RESULTS Global


December 10, 2009

This list, though not comprehensive, includes pieces of legislation that have either directly affected RESULTS’ work on the global team or have been pushed through by RESULTS. When first introduced, each of these pieces of legislation was considered an authorizing bill, differing from an appropriations bill in that no money was directly provided to an organization or program through these bills. See How Results Works to Introduce and Influence Authorizing Legislation and the Federal Budget Process under Background Information on the Legislative Process to read more. Terms under other topics are defined in the glossary.

Click on a link to read a short description below:

2000

Microenterprise for Self-Reliance and International Anti-Corruption Act of 2000

2003

Microenterprise for Self-Reliance Act Amendment of 2003

United States Leadership against AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003

2004

Microenterprise Results and Accountability Act of 2004

2005

Assistance for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children in Developing Countries Act of 2005

Global Poverty Act of 2005 (never passed into law)

2006

Stop TB Now Act of 2006 (never passed into law)

2007

Education for All Act of 2007 (not yet passed into law)

Global Child Survival Act of 2007 (not yet passed into law)

Global Poverty Act of 2007 (not yet passed into law)

Muhammad Yunus Congressional Gold Medal (not yet passed into law)

Stop TB Now Act of 2007 (not yet passed into law)

 

Microenterprise for Self-Reliance and International Anti-Corruption Act of 2000

In 2000, this legislation was passed to authorize continued and expanded efforts aimed at helping the poor become borrowers and start their own businesses. In 1994, in response to Congressional pressure, USAID set the goal of using at least 50 percent of its microenterprise resources to benefit very poor clients. When this goal was not reached by 2000, Congress turned it into a legislative mandate in this act, the Microenterprise for Self-Reliance and International Anti-Corruption Act of 2000. It authorized $155 million in FY 2001 and FY 2002 for all USAID microenterprise development programs, especially those programs benefiting women and the very poor. President Clinton signed this bill into law on October 17, 2000.

Microenterprise for Self-Reliance Act Amendment of 2003

The Microenterprise for Self-Reliance Act was amended in 2003 as H.R.192, redefining the “very poor” as those living below the international poverty line of $1 per day (PPP) or in the bottom half below the national poverty line. It also reaffirmed past legislation that required USAID to spend half of its microenterprise funding on the very poor and required USAID to develop, field test, and certify at least two poverty measurement tools for use by microenterprise practitioners. This amendment was signed into law on June 27, 2003.

United States Leadership against AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003

The United States Leadership against AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003 required that the President develop a five-year comprehensive strategy for the prevention, treatment, and monitoring of acquired AIDS and would authorize the appropriation of $3 billion per year over 2004–2008 to fund these efforts. The bill specifically authorized appropriations of up to $1 billion to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (GFATM), as well as appropriations to several international vaccine funds. It also established an HIV/AIDS Response Coordinator position within the Department of State who has the responsibility of overseeing and coordinating all U.S. international activities to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Between FY 2004 and FY 2008, the initiative has the goal of caring for 10 million people living with AIDS (including children orphaned by AIDS), preventing 7 million new HIV infections, and supporting efforts to provide anti-retroviral medication to 2 million people infected with HIV. On May 27, 2003, the president signed this bill into law.

Microenterprise Results and Accountability Act of 2004

The Microenterprise Results and Accountability Act of 2004 amended the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 in order to improve the results and accountability of microenterprise development assistance programs. This act first re-enforces terms in the original microenterprise act from 2000 requiring that at least half of USAID microenterprise resources benefit very poor clients (those living on less than a dollar a day). The 2004 act directs USAID to incorporate effective poverty measurement tools to ensure that funds are in fact reaching the very poor. It requires USAID to place a priority on giving grants to NGOs rather than expensive contractors running microenterprise programs. It also mandates that USAID provide Congress with an annual report to demonstrate the greater efficiency of the programs since the passing of this act; as part of this, the act set up a microenterprise office within USAID in order to improve oversight. The act listed October 2006 as a deadline for the implementation of poverty assessment tools, but USAID has found that it must develop country-specific tools for each country and is therefore still working on them. The act was signed into law by the president on December 23, 2004.

Assistance for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children in Developing Countries Act of 2005

The Assistance for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children in Developing Countries Act of 2005 represents the first attempt ever to present a systematic response to the needs of the millions of suffering orphaned and vulnerable children, ensuring that all children have access to health care, nutrition, education, and support services. The act required the administration to develop a comprehensive strategy for meeting the needs of these children within 180 days of the act’s passage. It also required that a Special Advisor for Assistance to Orphans and Vulnerable Children be created within the U.S. government to coordinate all programs that involve orphans and vulnerable children in countries that receive U.S. development assistance to make this assistance more effective. The act called for a wide range of services to include pediatric AIDS drug formulations, psychosocial support and the elimination of school fees, which are major barriers to education for AIDS orphans, girls, and other poor children.

RESULTS was closely involved in developing the Assistance for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children in Developing Countries Act and is a leading member of the Global Action for Children Campaign that had advocated for the Orphans Act for several years previously. RESULTS was also actively involved in putting together civil society recommendations for decisions makers as the administration was in the process of developing its plan. This law not only emphasized the immediate needs of food and medicine for the most vulnerable children, it also called for the elimination of school fees and other barriers to education, offering children what they need to stay alive now and offering them a way to build their lives and their communities in the future.

This act was originally introduced by Senators Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Representatives Henry Hyde (R-IL) and Barbara Lee (D-CA). The president signed it into law on November 8, 2005.

Global Poverty Act of 2005

In 2005, a bill was introduced that would “require the President to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to further the United States foreign policy objective of vastly reducing global poverty and eliminating extreme global poverty, to require periodic reports on the progress toward implementation of the strategy, and for other purposes.”* This act was never passed, but a Global Poverty Act of 2007 is currently being considered.

*language directly from the bill, H.R.3605, introduced in the 109th Congress

Stop Tuberculosis (TB) Now Act of 2006

The Stop Tuberculosis (TB) Now Act of 2006 was introduced by Representatives Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Jim Leach (R-IA) as well as in an identical bill by Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Gordon Smith (R-OR), and Richard Durbin (D-IL) to amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 in order to provide increased assistance for the prevention, treatment, and control of tuberculosis. The bill was never passed into law.

Education for All Act of 2007

The Education for All Act was introduced on May 1, 2007. In the House, this bipartisan bill is championed by Representative Nita Lowey, chairwoman of the Foreign Operations Subcommittee of Appropriations, and Representative Spencer Bachus (R-NY); in the Senate, it is championed by Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Gordon Smith (R-OR). The legislation calls for $1 billion in global basic education funding for FY 2008 to aid developing countries in ensuring that all children attend school and to make education a higher priority of U.S. foreign assistance. Members of Congress should support this legislation and also press that the $1 billion authorized in this legislation is provided within the fiscal year 2008 foreign aid appropriations bill.

Global Child Survival Act of 2007

On Thursday, May 10, the U.S. Commitment to Global Child Survival Act of 2007 (Global Child Survival Act) was introduced in the House. The lead sponsors were Representatives Betty McCollum (D-MN) and Christopher Shays (R-CT). Soon thereafter, a Senate version was introduced by Senators Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and Gordon Smith (R-OR).

The bill calls for increased funds and commitment to child survival through decreased global child mortality. It would:

  1. authorize increased funding to expand child and maternal health interventions
  2. continue investments in proven, cost-effective international child and maternal health programs
  3. require the U.S. government to develop an integrated strategy for supporting the improvement of child and maternal health
  4. create a U.S. Government Inter-agency Child and Maternal Health Task Force to coordinate activities directed toward achieving maternal and child health goals
  5. set out guidelines for child survival programs
  6. require the president to submit an annual report to Congress detailing U.S. efforts and reporting on progress to date

Global Poverty Act of 2007

As the Global Poverty Act of 2005 was never passed, a bill seeking to reduce poverty worldwide was introduced again, in the House, on March 1, 2007. The act calls on the president, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other U.S. governmental agencies to create a strategy that would prioritize poverty reduction. The strategy would be reviewed every year and would specify goals under which United States’ progress toward achieving poverty reduction could be measured. In particular, the strategy would make certain that U.S. foreign policy further the achievement of Millennium Development Goal #1: reducing the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day between 1990 and 2015 by half. The act also includes guidelines for what the strategy should include — from aid, trade, and debt relief, to working with the international community, businesses and NGOs, to ensuring environmental sustainability.

The act was introduced by Reps. Adam Smith (D-WA) and Spencer Bachus (R-AL).

Muhammad Yunus Congressional Gold Medal

The effort to award a Congressional Gold Medal to Dr. Muhammad Yunus, in recognition of his contributions to the fight against global poverty (H.R.1801), was introduced by Representatives Rush Holt (D-NJ) and John Carter (R-TX) on March 29, 2007, and by Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Robert Bennett (R-UT) on March 15.

The proposal provides a directive to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate to arrange for the presentation on behalf of Congress of a gold medal of appropriate design to Dr. Muhammad Yunus (see the Grameen Bank and Muhammad Yunus) in recognition of his many enduring contributions to the fight against global poverty.

Stop TB Now Act of 2007

The Stop TB Now Act (H.R.1567) was introduced on March 19, 2007, by Representatives Eliot Engel (D-NY), Adam Smith (D-WA), and Heather Wilson (R-NM). The new bill is similar to the Stop Tuberculosis (TB) Now Act of 2006 (H.R.5022), which was introduced in the House in March of 2006 by Representatives Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Jim Leach (R-IA).

The bill calls for the U.S. to commit the funds and put in place the policies necessary to reach the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halting and reversing the spread of tuberculosis. It specifies that the U.S. should strive to halve TB deaths by 2015 and sustain or exceed diagnosis of at least 70 percent of TB cases and cure at least 85 percent of those patients. It puts in place policies to help ensure the most effective investments to achieve these targets. The act is currently being considered. See the Stop TB Now Act of 2007 page to read more.

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