[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3568 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3568

 To provide assistance to address long-term food production and rural 
   development needs in Afghanistan and the Central Asian Republics.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 20, 2001

 Mr. Bereuter introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                  Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide assistance to address long-term food production and rural 
   development needs in Afghanistan and the Central Asian Republics.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Afghanistan and Central Asian 
Republics Sustainable Food Production Act of 2001''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) abject poverty and the inability to produce food, even 
        at the subsistence level, in the rural, mountainous areas of 
        Afghanistan and the Central Asian Republics have plagued the 
        region for over 20 years;
            (2) extended food shortages in this region have resulted in 
        the consumption of seed supplies and breeding livestock 
        necessary to continue farming and food production;
            (3) ongoing and violent conflict in the region has badly 
        damaged or destroyed the basic irrigation systems necessary for 
        food production;
            (4) despite the delivery of over $185,000,000 in aid from 
        the United States in fiscal year 2001 toward humanitarian 
        assistance needs in Afghanistan, millions of people remain at 
        risk of severe malnutrition and starvation in the short- and 
        long-terms;
            (5) on October 4, 2001, President George W. Bush announced 
        that the people of Afghanistan, and the governments of 
        Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan will 
        receive an additional $320,000,000 humanitarian assistance 
        package for emergency food and refugee assistance to address 
        the region's immediate needs during the war on terrorism; and
            (6) in addition to addressing short-term emergency 
        assistance needs in Afghanistan and the mountainous regions of 
        the Central Asian Republics, addressing the long-term food 
        production and rural development issues in region will be 
        critical to attaining some stability in the region.

SEC. 3. ASSISTANCE.

    (a) Assistance.--The Administrator of the United States Agency for 
International Development shall provide assistance in accordance with 
the provisions of this Act to develop sustainable food production for 
Afghanistan and the mountainous regions of other countries of Central 
Asia through restocking seed, replacing breeding livestock, restoring 
basic irrigation systems, and providing access to credit for food 
production, processing, or marketing enterprises through rural 
microenterprise loan programs.
    (b) Program Objectives.--
            (1) In general.--In providing assistance under subsection 
        (a), the Administrator shall provide only grants to 
        nongovernmental organizations for the purpose of carrying out 
        the activities described in paragraph (2) in Afghanistan and 
        the other countries of Central Asia in accordance with this 
        section.
            (2) Activities supported.--
                    (A) In general.--Among the activities for which the 
                Administrator may provide grants shall be--
                            (i) procurement of seed for local food 
                        production;
                            (ii) replacement of breeding livestock;
                            (iii) restoration of basic irrigation 
                        systems;
                            (iv) establishment of access to credit for 
                        food production, processing, or marketing 
                        enterprises through rural microenterprise loan 
                        programs; and
                            (v) providing technical assistance.
                    (B) Limitation.--Amounts received under a grant 
                shall not be used to carry out activities related to 
                emergencies or disasters.
            (3) Applications.--A nongovernmental organization that 
        desires to receive a grant under this section shall submit an 
        application for the grant to the Administrator. The application 
        should be developed by the nongovernmental organization in 
        close consultation with local indigenous entities, or 
        associated persons of a village or villages, located in the 
        country within which the activities supported by the grant will 
        be carried out.
            (4) Implementation of program objectives.--In carrying out 
        the objectives of paragraph (1), the Administrator shall--
                    (A) coordinate the activities with governments of 
                other countries authorized to receive grants under this 
                section, local and regional governments of such 
                countries, nongovernmental organizations operating in 
                such countries, and private donors;
                    (B) provide minimal supplementary grants for 
                associated administrative costs to the national and 
                regional governments of the country for which grants to 
                nongovernmental organizations are approved under this 
                section;
                    (C) provide oversight of grants disbursed under 
                this section, including procedures under which a 
                nongovernmental organization that misuses grant funds 
                or otherwise fails to adequately carry out the 
                activities described in paragraph (2) should be 
                disqualified from receiving additional grants under 
                this section for not less than 1 year; and
                    (D) coordinate efforts with national, regional, and 
                local government officials to conduct an annual review 
                of disbursement of grant funds and the effectiveness of 
                activities carried out with grant funds.
    (c) Restriction Relating to the Use of United States Funds in 
Afghanistan.--Funds made available under this Act shall not be used 
during a fiscal year for any activity in Afghanistan which is described 
in subsection (b)(2) unless the Secretary of State certifies for the 
fiscal year that there has been substantial progress made toward the 
establishment of a government in Afghanistan that meets the following 
requirements:
            (1) The government includes broad representation from the 
        diverse ethnic and religious groups of Afghanistan, including 
        both men and women from such groups.
            (2) The government does not sponsor terrorism or harbor 
        terrorists.
            (3) The government demonstrates a strong and determined 
        commitment to eliminating the production of opium-producing 
        poppies.
            (4) The government meets the conditions outlined in the 
        United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

SEC. 4. ADMINISTRATION.

    It is the sense of the Congress that the Administrator should 
establish--
            (1) criteria for the selection of projects to receive 
        support under this Act;
            (2) standards and criteria regarding qualifications of 
        recipients of such support;
            (3) such rules and procedures as may be necessary for 
        projects that receive support under this Act;
            (4) such rules and procedures as may be necessary to ensure 
        transparency and accountability in the grant-making process; 
        and
            (5) criteria for an annual review process for all projects 
        receiving grants.

SEC. 5. REPORTS TO CONGRESS.

    (a) Annual Reports by Administrator.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for the 
        subsequent 4 fiscal years, the Administrator shall submit to 
        the appropriate committees of Congress a report on the 
        implementation of this Act.
            (2) Report elements.--The report shall include a 
        description of--
                    (A) the programs, projects, and activities 
                supported by grants made under this Act;
                    (B) the criteria that have been established that 
                are used to determine the programs and activities that 
                should be assisted by grants made under this Act;
                    (C) an assessment regarding the extent to which the 
                Government of Afghanistan does or does not meet the 
                requirements of section 3(c) for that fiscal year; and
                    (D) with respect to a fiscal year for which 
                Afghanistan is eligible to receive a grant under 
                section 3, the impact of programming on food production 
                and rural development in Afghanistan.
    (b) GAO Report on Effectiveness.--Not later than 2 years after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the 
United States shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a 
report evaluating the effectiveness of grants made under this Act, 
including the effectiveness of the programs, projects, and activities 
described in subsection (a)(2)(A) in building sustainable food 
production and rural microenterprise loans in the countries authorized 
to receive grants under this section.

SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    In addition to any other funds authorized to be appropriated for 
bilateral programs related to sustainable food production and 
microenterprise systems, there is authorized to be appropriated to the 
Administrator $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2002 and $50,000,000 for each 
of the fiscal years 2003 through 2006 to carry out this Act. Of the 
amount appropriated pursuant to the authorization of appropriations 
under the preceding sentence for a fiscal year 60 percent should be 
designated for grants for Afghanistan.

SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
        Administrator of the United States Agency for International 
        Development.
            (2) Appropriate committees.--The term ``appropriate 
        committees'' means the Committee on Foreign Relations and the 
        Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on 
        International Relations and the Committee on Appropriations of 
        the House of Representatives.
            (3) Other countries of central asia.--The term ``other 
        countries of Central Asia'' means Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, 
        Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
                                 <all>