[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2941 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2941

    To authorize the President to negotiate the creation of a North 
    American Investment Fund to promote economic and infrastructure 
integration among Canada, Mexico, and the United States, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 7, 2004

  Mr. Cornyn introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To authorize the President to negotiate the creation of a North 
    American Investment Fund to promote economic and infrastructure 
integration among Canada, Mexico, and the United States, and for other 
                               purposes.

    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 ``North American Investment Fund 
Act''.

SEC. 2. AUTHORITY FOR A NORTH AMERICAN INVESTMENT FUND.

    The President is authorized to negotiate with the Governments of 
Canada and Mexico to create a North American Investment Fund, as 
described in this Act (hereinafter referred to as the ``Fund''), by--
            (1) agreeing to certain amendments to the November 1993 
        Agreement Between the Government of the United States of 
        America and the Government of the United Mexican States 
        Concerning the Establishment of a Border Environment 
        Cooperation Commission and a North American Development Bank; 
        or
            (2) negotiating an agreement with the Governments of Canada 
        and Mexico to establish and administer the Fund.

SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of the Fund shall be--
            (1) to promote economic and infrastructure integration 
        among Canada, Mexico, and the United States;
            (2) to promote education and economic development in 
        Mexico; and
            (3) to reduce the wealth gap between Mexico and Canada, and 
        between Mexico and the United States.

SEC. 4. PROJECTS FUNDED.

    (a) In General.--The Fund shall make grants for projects to carry 
out the purposes described in section 3, including projects--
            (1) to construct roads in Mexico to facilitate trade 
        between Mexico and Canada, and Mexico and the United States;
            (2) to develop and implement post-secondary education 
        programs in Mexico;
            (3) to install telecommunications technologies throughout 
        Mexico; and
            (4) to construct other infrastructure that will carry out 
        such purposes.
    (b) Project Selection.--The terms of the agreement establishing the 
Fund shall include guidelines for the selection of projects to receive 
grants from the Fund.

SEC. 5. CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE FUND.

    (a) In General.--The terms of the agreement establishing the Fund 
shall, subject to the limitation in subsection (b), require the 
Governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States to contribute to 
the Fund.
    (b) Limitations on Contributions by the U.S. and Canada.--The terms 
of the agreement establishing the Fund shall include provisions that 
permit Canada and the United States to contribute to the Fund only if, 
during the initial term of operation of the Fund, the Government of 
Mexico--
            (1) increases the tax revenue collected by such Government, 
        with the goal of collecting an amount of such revenue that is 
        equal to 16 percent of the gross domestic product of Mexico; 
        and
            (2) carries out a program of economic reforms to increase 
        economic stability in Mexico.

SEC. 6. TERM OF THE FUND.

    The terms of the agreement establishing the Fund shall require that 
the Fund operate for an initial period of 10 years and cease operations 
at the end of such period, unless Canada, Mexico, and the United States 
agree to extend the period of operation.

SEC. 7. REPORT.

    Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the President shall submit to Congress a report on the progress 
made by the Government of the United States to establish the Fund as 
described in this Act.
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