[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 79 (Monday, June 7, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1152]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THE EXPORT ENHANCEMENT ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DONALD A. MANZULLO

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, June 7, 1999

  Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, I was pleased to introduce on May 27th, 
along with Representatives Bob Menendez, Ben Gilman, Sam Gejdenson, and 
44 other Republican and Democrat Members of Congress the Export 
Enhancement Act of 1999.
  We are all concerned about the recent anemic export performance of 
the United States and the ballooning U.S. trade deficit. While this 
legislation is not a cure-all for this problem, it provides one tool in 
the effort to promote U.S. exports abroad.
  This legislation would reauthorize most commercial export promotion 
programs of the U.S. government, including the Overseas Private 
Investment Corporation (OPIC), the Trade and Development Agency (TDA), 
and the export promotion functions of the International Trade 
Administration (ITA) at the Department of Commerce.
  First, the legislation re-authorizes OPIC for four years and does not 
raise OPIC's liability ceiling. For 27 years, OPIC has been the U.S. 
government agency providing political risk insurance and financing for 
projects that help America compete abroad and promote stability and 
development in strategic countries and economies around the world.
  OPIC's political risk insurance covers three main areas where the 
government has a proper role to influence--expropriation (loss of an 
investment due to nationalization or confiscation by a foreign 
government), currency inconvertibility (inability to remit profits from 
local currency to U.S. dollars); and political violence (loss of assets 
or income due to war, revolution or politically-motivated civil strife, 
terrorism or sabotage).
  Since 1971, OPIC supported projects have generated $58 billion in 
U.S. exports and created more than 237,000 American jobs. Over the last 
five years, OPIC supported projects will buy about $1 billion worth of 
goods and services from Illinois suppliers, half of which are small 
firms, which will create over 3,100 jobs. Companies in the 16th 
District of Illinois like Coilcraft Inc. of Cary; Oak Industries of 
Crystal Lake; ESI Limited, the Nylint Corporation, the Barber-Coleman 
Company, and the Clinton Electronics Corporation of Rockford have all 
used and benefited from OPIC services in the past. And, unlike most 
government programs, OPIC operates totally on a user-fee self-
sustaining basis at no cost to the taxpayer. OPIC is estimated to bring 
in $204 million in revenue to the U.S. Treasury next year.
  In response to Congressional input, OPIC has undertaken a series of 
initiatives since its last reauthorization. These include new 
initiatives in Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, and the Caspian 
Basin. In addition, OPIC has stepped up efforts to help more small 
businesses enter the global economy.
  As Chairman of the Small Business Exports Subcommittee, I held a 
hearing last month examining the new small business outreach efforts by 
OPIC. OPIC is particularly important for small business exporters 
because unlike large companies, small business exporters cannot pack up 
their bags and relocate operations overseas to take advantage of 
foreign equivalents to OPIC. There are 36 nations that have export 
credit insurance programs like OPIC. Just like OPIC, most of these 
nations have local content requirements. If forced to, larger U.S. 
multinational corporations can pick and choose from one of these other 
foreign export credit insurance programs. But the work and the jobs, 
then, are transferred overseas. Small business exporters do not have 
this luxury. OPIC is needed to maintain the competitive edge of these 
small business exporters in the United States.
  Mr. Speaker, let me give you one concrete example from the hearing 
last month. Jane Dauffenbach, President of Aquarius Systems, located in 
North Prairie, Wisconsin, testified how foreign governments constantly 
try to undermine her small company's export prospects, even to the 
point of competing against free donations of similar equipment. 
Aquarius Systems manufactures aquatic weed harvesters. In Asia, 
Aquarius Systems lost a large equipment sale when the Canadian 
government gave a ``free'' aquatic weed harvester to the monarch of the 
country. In Kenya, Ms. Dauffenbach also testified about how the 
Japanese and the Israeli governments almost snatched another huge 
export sale from her company to clear water hyacinths clogging Lake 
Victoria. It was only because she had a World Bank contract, backed by 
OPIC political risk insurance, that she was able to win and complete 
the sale. She said, ``(s)imply put, Aquarius Systems is not competing 
with foreign companies. We are competing with foreign governments . . . 
It is imperative that the financing and insurance programs from OPIC 
exist so that we have the necessary tools available to accomplish our 
goals.''
  Second, the legislation reaffirms the importance of Trade Development 
Agency (TDA). This small 43 person agency, which develops feasibility 
studies designing in American specifications so that U.S. exporters can 
win major infrastructure projects in developing countries and emerging 
economies later down the road, has generated $12.3 billion in exports 
since its inception in 1981. Every $1 in spending for TDA projects has 
led to the export of $32 in U.S. goods and services overseas. The 
Export Enhancement Act requires, to the maximum extent possible, the 
imposition of ``success fees'' on companies who win export deals thanks 
to the groundwork laid by a feasibility study conducted by the TDA.
  Third, the bill examines the three export promotion arms of 
International Trade Administration (ITA) at the Commerce Department--
the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service, which as 100 U.S. export 
assistance centers located throughout the United States and 141 posts 
located in 76 countries around the world; Trade Development, which 
monitors trade developments in key industries and supports the United 
States Trade Representative in key industrial sector trade 
negotiations; and Market Access and Compliance, which ensures that U.S. 
companies obtain full market compliance with existing trade agreements 
with various countries of the world. The Export Enhancement Act makes a 
few changes to these programs to make sure that the ITA keeps its focus 
on helping more small businesses export, particularly to 
underrepresented regions of the world, like Africa, in the most 
efficient way possible.
  Finally, the Export Enhancement Act proposes to make a few changes to 
the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCC) to insure that the 19 
federal agencies that are involved in trade promotion operate more in 
tandem together.
  In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support the 
Export Enhancement Act of 1999.

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