[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2321 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2321

 To amend the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 to extend and expand the 
   Market Access Program and the Foreign Market Development Program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 3, 2017

   Mr. Newhouse (for himself, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Thomas J. Rooney of 
  Florida, Ms. Pingree, Mr. Panetta, and Mrs. Bustos) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 to extend and expand the 
   Market Access Program and the Foreign Market Development Program.

    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 ``Cultivating Revitalization by 
Expanding American Agricultural Trade and Exports Act'' or the 
``CREAATE Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Between 1977 and 2014, the export promotion programs of 
        the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) have added 
        $8.15 billion on average every year to the value of United 
        States agricultural exports, equal to a total of $309.7 
        billion, or 15.3 percent, in additional export revenue.
            (2) Between 1977 and 2014, USDA export promotion programs 
        have generated a net return of $28.30 for every dollar 
        invested; and between 2002 and 2014, under a less than full 
        employment scenario, the programs have annually added an 
        average of 2.7 percent, or $8.4 billion, to farm cash receipts, 
        and contributed up to 239,800 full and part-time jobs across 
        the United States economy.
            (3) Between 2002 and 2014, USDA export promotion programs 
        have added up to $39.3 billion in gross economic output and up 
        to $16.9 billion in gross domestic product under a less than 
        full employment scenario.
            (4) Communities across the United States, producing 
        agricultural commodities as varied as apples, cotton, beef, 
        soybeans, rice, wheat, dairy, corn, citrus, wine, pork, 
        peanuts, cranberries, lentils, tree nuts, timber, poultry, 
        potatoes, and seafood, have utilized USDA export promotion 
        programs to increase their foreign market access.
            (5) Private sector contributions have helped maintain the 
        public-private partnership between USDA and private 
        agricultural groups as the effective available funds from USDA 
        have declined, with private contributions representing 
        approximately 70 percent of the funds available for export 
        promotion in 2014.
            (6) Foreign competitors have expanded their own 
        agricultural export promotion programs at a far faster rate 
        than the United States, placing United States producers at a 
        competitive disadvantage in international markets.
            (7) The economic impact of USDA export promotion programs 
        has eroded in recent years, as funding for the Market Access 
        Program has remained static since 2006, and funding for the 
        Foreign Market Development Program has remained static since 
        2002, while inflation has increased.
            (8) A recent academic analysis found that doubling public 
        funding for the Market Access Program and the Foreign Market 
        Development Program, coupled with increasing private 
        contributions ranging from 10 to 50 percent, would result in 
        average annual gains in agricultural exports from $3.4 to $4.5 
        billion, and would result in average annual gains in gross 
        domestic product from $4.5 to $6.0 billion under a less than 
        full employment scenario.

SEC. 3. MARKET ACCESS PROGRAM.

    Section 211(c)(1)(A) of the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 (7 
U.S.C. 5641(c)(1)(A)) is amended by striking ``not more than'' and all 
that follows through ``through 2018'' and inserting ``not more than 
$200,000,000 for fiscal year 2018, $240,000,000 for fiscal year 2019, 
$280,000,000 for fiscal year 2020, $320,000,000 for fiscal year 2021, 
$360,000,000 for fiscal year 2022, and $400,000,000 for fiscal year 
2023''.

SEC. 4. FOREIGN MARKET DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM.

    Section 703(a) of the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 
5723(a)) is amended by striking ``$34,500,000 for each of fiscal years 
2008 through 2018'' and inserting ``$34,500,000 for fiscal year 2018, 
$41,400,000 for fiscal year 2019, $48,300,000 for fiscal year 2020, 
$55,200,000 for fiscal year 2021, $62,100,000 for fiscal year 2022, and 
$69,000,000 for fiscal year 2023''.
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