Legislation on Foreign Relations Through ...

(34) During his appearance before the Committee on International Relations of the House of Representatives on September 25, 2003, Ambassador L. Paul Bremer, III, Adminis trator of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, stated that out of the 278 third-country nationals who were captured by coalition forces in Iraq, the "single largest group are Syr ians".

SEC. 3.1 SENSE OF CONGRESS.

It is the sense of Congress that

(1) the Government of Syria should immediately and unconditionally halt support for terrorism, permanently and openly declare its total renunciation of all forms of terrorism, and close all terrorist offices and facilities in Syria, including the offices of Hamas, Hizballah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command; (2) the Government of Syria should—

(A) immediately and unconditionally stop facilitating transit from Syria to Iraq of individuals, military equip ment, and all lethal items, except as authorized by the Coalition Provisional Authority or a representative, internationally recognized Iraqi government;

(B) cease its support for "volunteers" and terrorists who are traveling from and through Syria into Iraq to launch attacks; and

(3) the Government of Syria should immediately declare its commitment to completely withdraw its armed forces, including military, paramilitary, and security forces, from Lebanon. and set a firm timetable for such withdrawal;

(4) the Government of Lebanon should deploy the Lebanese armed forces to all areas of Lebanon, including South Lebanon. in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 520 (September 17, 1982), in order to assert the sovereignty of the Lebanese state over all of its territory, and should evict all terrorist and foreign forces from southern Lebanon, including Hizballah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards;

(5) the Government of Syria should halt the development and deployment of medium- and long-range surface-to-surface missiles and cease the development and production of biological and chemical weapons;

(6) the Governments of Lebanon and Syria should enter into serious unconditional bilateral negotiations with the Government of Israel in order to realize a full and permanent peace: (7) the United States should continue to provide humanitarian and educational assistance to the people of Lebanon only through appropriate private, nongovernmental organizations and appropriate international organizations, until such time as the Government of Lebanon asserts sovereignty and control over all of its territory and borders and achieves full

political independence, as called for in United Nations Security Council Resolution 520; and

(8) as a violator of several key United Nations Security Council resolutions and as a nation that pursues policies which undermine international peace and security, Syria should not have been permitted to join the United Nations Security Council or serve as the Security Council's President, and should be removed from the Security Council.

SEC. 4.1 STATEMENT OF POLICY.

It is the policy of the United States that

(1) Syria should bear responsibility for attacks committed by Hizballah and other terrorist groups with offices, training camps, or other facilities in Syria, or bases in areas of Lebanon occupied by Syria;

(2) the United States will work to deny Syria the ability to support acts of international terrorism and efforts to develop or acquire weapons of mass destruction;

(3) the Secretary of State will continue to list Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism until Syria ends its support for terrorism, including its support of Hizballah and other terrorist groups in Lebanon and its hosting of terrorist groups in Damascus, and comes into full compliance with United States law relating to terrorism and United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373 (September 28, 2001);

(4) the full restoration of Lebanon's sovereignty, political independence, and territorial integrity is in the national security interest of the United States;

(5) Syria is in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 520 (September 17, 1982) through its continued occupation of Lebanese territory and its encroachment upon Lebanon's political independence;

(6) Syria's obligation to withdraw from Lebanon is not conditioned upon progress in the Israeli-Syrian or Israeli-Lebanese peace process but derives from Syria's obligation under Security Council Resolution 520;

(7) Syria's acquisition of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs threaten the security of the Middle East and the national security interests of the United States;

(8) Syria will be held accountable for any harm to Coalition armed forces or to any United States citizen in Iraq if the government of Syria is found to be responsible due to its facilitation of terrorist activities and its shipments of military supplies to Iraq; and

(9) the United States will not provide any assistance to Syria and will oppose multilateral assistance for Syria until Syria ends all support for terrorism, withdraws its armed forces from Lebanon, and halts the development and deployment of weapons of mass destruction and medium- and long-range surfaceto-surface ballistic missiles.

SEC. 5.1 PENALTIES AND AUTHORIZATION.

(a) PENALTIES.-Until the President makes the determination that Syria meets all the requirements described in paragraphs (1)

through (4) of subsection (d) and certifies such determination to Congress in accordance with such subsection

(1) the President shall prohibit the export to Syria of any item, including the issuance of a license for the export of any item, on the United States Munitions List or Commerce Control List of dual-use items in the Export Administration Regulations (15 CFR part 730 et seq.); and

(2) the President shall impose two or more of the following sanctions:

(A) Prohibit the export of products of the United States (other than food and medicine) to Syria.

(B) Prohibit United States businesses from investing or operating in Syria.

(C) Restrict Syrian diplomats in Washington, D.C., and at the United Nations in New York City, to travel only within a 25-mile radius of Washington, D.C., or the United Nations headquarters building, respectively.

(D) Prohibit aircraft of any air carrier owned or controlled by Syria to take off from, land in, or overfly the United States.

(E) Reduce United States diplomatic contacts with Syria (other than those contacts required to protect United States interests or carry out the purposes of this Act).

(F) Block transactions in any property in which the Government of Syria has any interest, by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

(b) WAIVER.-The President may waive the application of subsection (a)(1), (a)(2), or both if the President determines that it is in the national security interest of the United States to do so and submits to the appropriate congressional committees a report containing the reasons for the determination.

(1) makes the determination that Syria meets the requirements described in paragraphs (1) through (4) of subsection (d) and certifies such determination to Congress in accordance with such subsection;

(2) determines that substantial progress has been made both in negotiations aimed at achieving a peace agreement between Israel and Syria and in negotiations aimed at achieving a peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon; and

(3) determines that the Government of Syria is strictly respecting the sovereignty, territorial integrity, unity, and political independence of Lebanon under the sole and exclusive authority of the Government of Lebanon through the Lebanese army throughout Lebanon, as required under paragraph (4) of United Nations Security Council Resolution 520 (1982), then the President is authorized to provide assistance to Syria under chapter 1 of part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (relating to development assistance).

(d) CERTIFICATION.-A certification under this subsection is a certification transmitted to the appropriate congressional committees of a determination made by the President that

(1) the Government of Syria has ceased providing support for international terrorist groups and does not allow terrorist groups, such as Hamas, Hizballah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command to maintain facilities in territory under Syrian control;

(2) the Government of Syria ended its occupation of Lebanon described in section 2(7) of this Act;

(3) the Government of Syria has ceased the development and deployment of medium- and long-range surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, is not pursuing or engaged in the research, development, acquisition, production, transfer, or deployment of biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons, has provided credible assurances that such behavior will not be undertaken in the future, and has agreed to allow United Nations and other international observers to verify such actions and assurances;

and

(4) the Government of Syria has ceased all support for, and facilitation of, all terrorist activities inside of Iraq, including preventing the use of territory under its control by any means whatsoever to support those engaged in terrorist activities inside of Iraq.

SEC. 6.1 REPORT.

(a) REPORT.-Not later than 6 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, and every 12 months thereafter until the conditions described in paragraphs (1) through (4) of section 5(d) are satisfied, the Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on—

(1) Syria's progress toward meeting the conditions described in paragraphs (1) through (4) of section 5(d);

(2) connections, if any, between individual terrorists and terrorist groups which maintain offices, training camps, or other facilities on Syrian territory, or operate in areas of Lebanon occupied by the Syrian armed forces, and terrorist attacks on the United States or its citizens, installations, or allies; and

(3) how the United States is increasing its efforts against Hizballah and other terrorist organizations supported by Syria. (b) FORM.-The report submitted under subsection (a) shall be in unclassified form but may include a classified annex.

SEC. 7.1 DEFINITION OF APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES.

In this Act, the term "appropriate congressional committees" means the Committee on International Relations of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.

k. Microenterprise

(1) Microenterprise Results and Accountability Act of 2004 Partial text of Public Law 108-484 [H.R. 3818], 118 Stat. 3922, approved December 23, 2004

AN ACT To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to improve the results and accountability of microenterprise development assistance programs, and for other

purposes.

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

SECTION 1.1 SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the "Microenterprise Results and Accountability Act of 2004".

SEC. 2.2 FINDINGS AND POLICY.

Congress finds and declares the following:

(1) Congress has demonstrated its support for microenter prise development assistance programs through the enactment of two comprehensive microenterprise laws:

(A) The Microenterprise for Self-Reliance Act of 2000 (title I of Public Law 106-309; 114 Stat. 1082).3

(B) Public Law 108-31 (an Act entitled "An Act to amend the Microenterprise for Self-Reliance Act of 2000 and the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to increase assistance for the poorest people in developing countries under microenterprise assistance program under those Acts, and for other purposes", approved June 17, 2003).

(2) The report on the effectiveness of the United States Agency for International Development's microfinance program, prepared by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, rated the Agency in the top tier of the 17 donors in this field.

(3) The Comptroller General, in a report dated November 2003, found that the United States Agency for International Development has met some, but not all, of the key objectives of such microenterprise development assistance programs. (4) The Comptroller General's report found, among other things, the following:

(A) Microenterprise development assistance generally can help alleviate some impacts of poverty, improve income levels and quality of life for borrowers and provide

122 U.S.C. 2151 note.

222 U.S.C. 2211 note.

3 For text of freestanding sections of Public Law 106-309, see Legislation on Foreign Relations Through 2005, vol. I-B. Public Law 106-309, in part, amended the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 at secs. 108, 131, 132 to establish microenterprise development grant assistance, microand small enterprise development credits, and the U.S. Microfinance Loan Facility. Secs. 4 and 5 of this Act redesignate secs. 108 and 132 of the Foreign assistance Act of 1961 as secs. 256 and 257, respectively, and sec. 8(a) of this Act repeals sec. 132, replacing the text with a new sec. 258, enacted in sec. 8 of this Act. See also sec. 9 of this Act.

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