[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9244 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9244

   To amend the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 to increase the funds 
allocated to carry out the market access program and the foreign market 
    development cooperator program of the Department of Agriculture.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 28, 2022

Mr. Costa (for himself, Mr. Newhouse, Mrs. Axne, Mr. Mann, Ms. Schrier, 
Mrs. Hinson, and Mr. Panetta) introduced the following bill; which was 
                referred to the Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 to increase the funds 
allocated to carry out the market access program and the foreign market 
    development cooperator program of the Department of Agriculture.

    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 ``Supporting Market Access to 
Reinvigorate Trade Act of 2022'' or the ``SMART Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Between 1977 and 2019, the export promotion programs of 
        the Department of Agriculture (in this section referred to as 
        the ``Programs'') have added, on average, $9,600,000,000 per 
        year to the value of United States agricultural exports, equal 
        to a total of nearly $648,000,000,000, or 13.7 percent, in 
        additional export revenue.
            (2) Between 1977 and 2019, the Programs have generated a 
        net return of $24.50 for every dollar invested.
            (3) Between 2002 and 2019, the Programs have contributed up 
        to 225,800 full- and part-time jobs across the United States 
        economy.
            (4) Between 2002 and 2019, the Programs have added up to 
        $45,000,000,000 in gross economic output and $22,300,000,000 in 
        gross domestic product.
            (5) Communities across the United States that produce 
        agricultural commodities as varied as apples, blueberries, 
        strawberries, cotton, beef, soybeans, rice, wheat, dairy, corn, 
        citrus, wine, pork, peanuts, cranberries, lentils, tree nuts, 
        timber, poultry, potatoes, and seafood, have utilized the 
        Programs to increase the foreign market access of such 
        communities.
            (6) Private sector contributions have helped maintain the 
        public-private partnership between the Department of 
        Agriculture and private agricultural groups as the effective 
        available funds from the Department have declined, with private 
        contributions representing approximately 70 to 77 percent of 
        the funds available for export promotion from 2013 to 2019.
            (7) Agricultural export promotion programs of foreign 
        competitors have expanded at a far faster rate than the 
        Programs, placing United States producers at a competitive 
        disadvantage in international markets.
            (8) The economic impact of the 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.
            (9) 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 by 10 to 20 percent, would result in average 
        annual gains in agricultural exports of approximately 
        $7,400,000,000.

SEC. 3. INCREASE IN FUND ALLOCATION TO EXPORT PROMOTION PROGRAMS.

    Section 203(f)(3) of the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 
5623(f)(3)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(C) Additional funds.--For each of fiscal years 
                2024 through 2029, the Secretary shall allocate funds 
                to carry out this section in accordance with the 
                following:
                            ``(i) Market access program.--For market 
                        access activities authorized under subsection 
                        (b), of the funds of, or an equal value of 
                        commodities owned by, the Commodity Credit 
                        Corporation, not less than $400,000,000 for 
                        each such fiscal year.
                            ``(ii) Foreign market development 
                        cooperator program.--To carry out subsection 
                        (c), of the funds of, or an equal value of 
                        commodities owned by, the Commodity Credit 
                        Corporation, not less than $69,000,000 for each 
                        such fiscal year.''.
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