118 S176 IS: Expanding Agricultural Exports Act of 2023 U.S. Senate 2023-01-31 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

II118th CONGRESS1st SessionS. 176IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATESJanuary 31, 2023Mr. King (for himself, Ms. Ernst, Ms. Smith, Ms. Collins, and Mr. Grassley) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and ForestryA BILLTo amend the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 to extend and expand the Market Access Program and the Foreign Market Development Cooperator Program.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Expanding Agricultural Exports Act of 2023.

2.

Findings

Congress finds that—(1)between 1977 and 2019, the export promotion programs of the Department of Agriculture—(A)have added an average of $9,600,000,000 annually 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; and(B)have generated a net return of $24.50 for every dollar invested;(2)between 2002 and 2019, the export promotion programs of the Department of Agriculture—(A)have contributed to the creation of up to 225,800 full- and part-time jobs across the United States economy; and(B)have added up to $45,000,000,000 in gross economic output and $22,300,000,000 in gross domestic product; (3)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 the export promotion programs of the Department of Agriculture to increase access to foreign markets;(4)private sector contributions have helped maintain the public-private partnership between the Department of Agriculture and private agricultural groups as available funds from the Department of Agriculture have declined, with private contributions representing approximately 70 to 77 percent of the funds available for export promotion from 2013 to 2019;(5)foreign competitors have expanded their agricultural export promotion programs at a far faster rate than the United States, placing United States producers at a competitive disadvantage in international markets;(6)the economic impact of the export promotion programs of the Department of Agriculture has eroded in recent years, as funding for the Market Access Program has remained static since 2006 and funding for the Foreign Market Development Cooperator Program has remained static since 2002, while inflation has increased; and(7)a recent academic analysis found that doubling public funding for the Market Access Program and the Foreign Market Development Cooperator Program, coupled with increasing private contributions ranging from 10 to 20 percent, would result in average annual gains in agricultural exports of approximately $7,400,000,000.

3.

Agricultural trade promotion and facilitation

Section 203(f) of the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 5623(f)) is amended—(1)in paragraph (2)—(A)by striking 2019 through 2023 and inserting 2024 through 2029; and(B)by striking $255,000,000 and inserting $489,500,000; and(2)in paragraph (3)(A)—(A)in the matter preceding clause (i), by striking 2019 through 2023 and inserting 2024 through 2029; (B)in clause (i), by striking $200,000,000 and inserting $400,000,000; and(C)in clause (ii), by striking $34,500,000 and inserting $69,000,000.