United States First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton urged Congress to fund a foreign aid program which provides small scale loans(generally less than $1000) for women and the poor who want to start small businesses. At a speech before the program’s supporters, Clinton said that the program is “one of the strongest tools we can employ to assist people using their own effort.” She also pointed out that many people do not have the means to obtain loans from commercial banks, but they do have “sweat equitya lot of dreams and are willing to work hard.” The program is part of the Agency for International Development’s Microenterprise Development Project. The program, which calls for $240 million over two years, was recently included in a House of Representatives foreign aid bill. Women will comprise at least half of the approximately four million annual clients.
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