[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2300 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2300

To improve the efficiency and coordination of the Federal Government's 
                      export promotion activities.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 12, 1995

Mr. Bereuter (for himself, Mrs. Johnson of Connecticut, and Mr. Kolbe) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
 International Relations, and in addition to the Committee on Banking 
 and Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by 
the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To improve the efficiency and coordination of the Federal Government's 
                      export promotion activities.
    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 ``Export Promotion Consolidation 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Numerous attempts to better coordinate the export 
        promotion efforts of the United States Government have been 
        made and have been ongoing since 1950.
            (2) In 1992, the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee was 
        created to, among other things, ``prevent unnecessary 
        duplication in Federal export promotion activities'' and to 
        ``identify areas of overlap and duplication among Federal 
        export promotion activities and propose means of eliminating 
        them''.
            (3) In its first annual report to the Congress, the Trade 
        Promotion Coordinating Committee made 65 recommendations, yet 
        none of the recommendations specifically proposed eliminating 
        any export promotion programs.
            (4) In its second annual report to the Congress, the Trade 
        Promotion Coordinating Committee identified 14 Federal agencies 
        involved in export promotion activities for a total cost of 
        $3,300,000,000.
            (5) The Library of Congress has identified over 150 
        separate export promotion programs in at least 15 different 
        Federal agencies.
            (6) In 1993, the United States Information Agency's budget 
        for export promotion activities was nearly 3 times the entire 
        budget of the office of the United States Trade Representative.
            (7) Efforts to date to consolidate United States export 
        promotion activities have not been sufficient.

SEC. 3. CONSOLIDATION.

    (a) Submission of Plan.--Within 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the President shall transmit to the Congress a 
comprehensive plan to consolidate Federal nonagricultural export 
promotion activities. The plan shall provide for--
            (1) the elimination of the overlap and duplication among 
        all Federal nonagricultural export promotion activities;
            (2) a unified budget for Federal nonagricultural export 
        promotion activities which eliminates funding for the areas of 
        overlap and duplication identified under paragraph (1); and
            (3) a long-term agenda for developing cooperation between 
        State and Federal programs and activities designed to stimulate 
        or assist United States businesses in exporting nonagricultural 
        goods or services that are products of the United States, 
        including sharing of facilities, costs, and cost-sharing 
        between Federal and State export market research data.
    (b) Plan Elements.--The plan under subsection (a) shall--
            (1) place all Federal nonagricultural export promotion 
        activities under a single Government entity; and
            (2) provide clear authority for the entity described in 
        paragraph (1) to use the expertise and assistance of other 
        United States Government agencies.

SEC. 4. DEFINITION.

    As used in this Act, the term ``Federal nonagricultural export 
promotion activities''--
            (1) means all programs or activities of any department or 
        agency of the Federal Government (including, but not limited 
        to, departments and agencies with representatives on the Trade 
        Promotion Coordinating Committee established under section 2312 
        of the Export Enhancement Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C. 4727)) that 
        are designed to stimulate or assist United States businesses in 
        exporting nonagricultural goods or services that are products 
        of the United States, including trade missions; and
            (2) does not include programs or activities of the Export-
        Import Bank of the United States, the Trade and Development 
        Agency, and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.
                                 <all>