[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 186 (Tuesday, November 27, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H9591-H9593]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             UNITED STATES-MEXICO ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP ACT

  Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the bill (H.R. 1567) to promote economic partnership and 
cooperation between the United States and Mexico, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 1567

       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 ``United States-Mexico 
     Economic Partnership Act''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds the following:
       (1) The United States and Mexico have benefitted from a 
     bilateral, mutually beneficial partnership focused on 
     advancing the economic interests of both countries.
       (2) In 2013, Mexico adopted major energy reforms that 
     opened its energy sector to private investment, increasing 
     energy cooperation between Mexico and the United States and 
     opening new opportunities for United States energy 
     engagement.
       (3) On January 18, 2018, the Principal Deputy Assistant 
     Secretary for Educational and Cultural Affairs at the 
     Department of State stated, ``Our exchange programs build 
     enduring relationships and networks to advance U.S. national 
     interests and foreign policy goals. . . The role of our 
     exchanges. . . in advancing U.S. national security and 
     economic interests enjoys broad bipartisan support from 
     Congress and other stakeholders, and provides a strong return 
     on investment.''.
       (4) According to the Institute of International Education, 
     in the 2015-2016 academic year, more than 56,000 United 
     States students studied in other countries in the Western 
     Hemisphere region while more than 84,000 non-United States 
     students from the region studied in the United States, but 
     only 5,000 of those United States students studied in Mexico 
     and only 16,000 of those non-United States students were from 
     Mexico.
       (5) In March 2011, the United States launched the 100,000 
     Strong in the Americas Initiative, which seeks to increase 
     educational exchanges between the United States and other 
     countries in the Western Hemisphere region so that 100,000 
     United States students are studying in other countries in the 
     Western Hemisphere region and 100,000 non-United States 
     students from the region are studying in the United States 
     per year by 2020.
       (6) In January 2014, the United States established the 
     100,000 Strong in the Americas Innovation Fund, which seeks 
     to realize the goals of the 100,000 Strong in the Americas 
     Initiative by facilitating a public-private partnership 
     between the Department of State and nongovernmental 
     organizations, corporations, and universities in the United 
     States and other countries of the Western Hemisphere region.
       (7) To date, the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Innovation 
     Fund has awarded more than 100 grants to more than 250 higher 
     education institutions from 25 countries in the Western 
     Hemisphere region, and has raised $9,000,000 in investments, 
     75 percent of which was from corporations, foundations, and 
     regional governments.

     SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

       It is the policy of the United States--
       (1) to continue deepening economic cooperation between the 
     United States and Mexico; and
       (2) to seek to prioritize and expand educational and 
     professional exchange programs with Mexico, including through 
     the framework of the 100,000 Strong in the Americas 
     Initiative.

     SEC. 4. STRATEGY TO PRIORITIZE AND EXPAND EDUCATIONAL AND 
                   PROFESSIONAL EXCHANGE PROGRAMS WITH MEXICO.

       (a) In General.--The Secretary of State shall develop a 
     strategy to carry out the policy described in section 3, to 
     include prioritizing and expanding educational and 
     professional exchange programs with Mexico through the 
     framework of the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Initiative.
       (b) Elements.--The strategy required under subsection (a) 
     shall--
       (1) encourage more academic exchanges between the United 
     States and Mexico at the secondary, post-secondary, and post-
     graduate levels, especially with communities and through 
     academic institutions in the covered United States-Mexico 
     border region;
       (2) encourage United States and Mexican academic 
     institutions and businesses to collaborate to assist 
     prospective and developing entrepreneurs in strengthening 
     their business skills and promoting cooperation and joint 
     business initiatives across the United States and Mexico, 
     with a focus on initiatives in the covered United States-
     Mexico border region;
       (3) promote energy infrastructure coordination and 
     cooperation through support of vocational-level education, 
     internships, and exchanges between the United States and 
     Mexico, particularly in the region in which the Eagle Ford 
     Shale is located and in proximity to such region; and
       (4) assess the feasibility of fostering partnerships 
     between universities in the United States and medical school 
     and nursing programs in Mexico to ensure that medical school 
     and nursing programs in Mexico have comparable accreditation 
     standards as medical school and nursing programs in the 
     United States by the Accreditation and Standards in Foreign 
     Medical Education, in addition to the Accreditation 
     Commission For Education in Nursing, so that medical students 
     can pass medical licensing board exams, and nursing students 
     can pass nursing licensing exams, in the United States.
       (c) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit to 
     Congress a report on the strategy required under subsection 
     (a).

     SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

       In this Act:
       (1) 100,000 strong in the americas initiative.--The term 
     ``100,000 Strong in the Americas Initiative'' means the 
     initiative established in March 2011 by the United States 
     Government to increase educational exchanges in the Western 
     Hemisphere.
       (2) Covered united states-mexico border region.--The term 
     ``covered United States-Mexico border region'' means those 
     portions of the United States and Mexico that are within 100 
     kilometers of the international boundary between those 
     countries.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Royce) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.


                             General Leave

  Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend 
their remarks and to include any extraneous material in the Record.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Representative Cuellar and 
Representative Castro as well as the ranking member of the Foreign 
Affairs Committee, Mr. Engel, and the chairman of the Homeland Security 
Committee, Mike McCaul, for their work on the legislation that we are 
considering here today.
  The United States and Mexico share strong economic and cultural ties. 
As our neighbor to the south, a strong, stable Mexico benefits the 
United States. Realizing this, we already have many professional and 
educational exchanges between our two countries to help see that young 
people in Mexico graduate from school and enter the workforce with the 
skills, the credentials, and the experience that they need in the 21st 
century.
  In the 2015-2016 school year, 5,000 U.S. students studied abroad in 
Mexico while 16,000 Mexican students studied in the U.S. They did this 
through various exchange programs.
  These are good numbers, true, but more can be done to ensure that our 
young people are taking advantage of existing opportunities to study in 
both countries, and this bill builds on existing programs to expand and 
strengthen these exchanges.
  In particular, the bill focuses on exchanges in four important areas, 
and these are higher education, medical school, entrepreneurship, and 
the energy sector. These are all areas from which the U.S. and Mexico 
stand to mutually benefit from greater cooperation.
  There are, of course, areas in which the U.S.-Mexico relationship can 
improve. For example, Mexico needs to do more to combat the rampant 
corruption that has taken its toll on its citizens' trust.
  But this does not mean that our two countries cannot work together to 
ensure a brighter, more successful future for young people in both of 
our countries. Educational and professional exchanges are key to that 
goal, so I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I 
reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this measure. This is a good 
bill. I

[[Page H9592]]

thank its authors and Chairman Royce for bringing it forward.
  I will discuss its merits in a moment because I can't, in good 
conscience, stand on the House floor and talk about our economic 
partnership with Mexico and not speak for a moment on what is happening 
right now on our southern border.
  The President tweeted that the migrants seeking asylum in our country 
are stone-cold criminals. I have seen the images, and I don't see 
stone-cold criminals. I see children with bare feet. I see hungry 
mothers. I see toddlers in diapers. I see desperate fathers. And I see 
tear gas being lobbed from the United States into Mexico.
  The President says not to worry. He says it is a very safe sort of 
tear gas. The American people aren't stupid. The American people know 
what this country stands for. They know we are a nation of immigrants. 
They know that America doesn't kick people when they are down or slam 
the door on those fleeing poverty and violence.
  I hope the President gets the message.
  Now, the measure before us deals with our incredibly important 
relationship with our neighbor to the south, Mexico. Mexico is our 
close friend and ally, our third largest trading partner, and a country 
with which we share extraordinarily close cultural and person-to-person 
ties.
  This bill builds on the Obama administration's 100,000 Strong in the 
Americas initiative by requiring the Secretary of State to expand the 
exchange programs that allow our students and business leaders to share 
and learn from each other.
  There is no better way to advance the future of our bilateral ties 
than by allowing young people and professionals to experience what 
makes each of our countries unique.
  It is also critical that we send a strong message to the Mexican 
people that the United States Congress will not walk away from them, 
despite any damage done to our relationship over the past several 
years.
  As I have said many times in the Foreign Affairs Committee and on the 
House floor, the United States should be in the business of building 
bridges, not walls, to our friends in Mexico. The timing of this 
legislation could not be more ideal.

                              {time}  1700

  Mr. Speaker, 4 days from now, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will be 
sworn in as President of Mexico. By passing this measure today, the 
House of Representatives is recommitting itself to our bilateral 
relationship. We are sending a loud and clear message that the 
prosperity of our countries' futures depends on an enduring U.S.-Mexico 
relationship.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this 
legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the 
balance of my time.
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Texas 
(Mr. Cuellar), the author of this bill.
  Mr. CUELLAR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member, Mr. Engel, for 
yielding to me and also for his leadership in helping to bring this 
bill to the floor. I thank him and his staff for the wonderful work 
that they have done. I also thank Chairman Royce and his staff for 
their leadership. I, with both Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engel, 
spoke a lot about this bill and why it is important that we pass this 
particular bill.
  I thank my colleagues, Representative Castro and Representative Poe, 
who helped on this bill. I thank them for their work on the committee, 
and also Representative McCaul for signing on as a bipartisan measure.
  In fact, in the next few days, on Friday, Representative McCaul, 
myself, and a delegation will be going over to Mexico for the swearing 
in. I think this is a very appropriate time, as Mr. Engel mentioned, to 
have this bill to send this positive message.
  This bill is important in many ways. It is bipartisan legislation 
that promotes mutual national security interests and economic 
partnership and cooperation between the United States and Mexico, with 
a focus on the energy, health, entrepreneurship, and education sectors.
  Mexico is one of the United States' top trading partners, with an 
estimated $615 billion in two-way trade between those two countries, 
which means that every day there is more than $1.3 billion of trade 
between the U.S. and Mexico. That means that every single minute you 
are talking about more than $1 million of trade between the U.S. and 
Mexico, and this is why it is very important to have this type of 
relationship.
  As the chairman mentioned a few minutes ago, in the 2015-2016 
academic year, according to the Institute of International Education, 
more than 56,000 United States students studied in other countries in 
the Western Hemisphere, while more than 84,000 non-U.S. students from 
that region studied in the U.S.
  However, there are only 5,000 of those United States students who 
studied in Mexico, and only 16,000 of those non-U.S. students were from 
Mexico. This is why we need to do more to increase our educational 
exchange with our very important trading partner.
  Specifically, this bill establishes that it should be the policy of 
the United States to continue deepening the economic cooperation 
between the United States and Mexico and to expand the educational and 
professional exchange programs with our neighbors to the south. In 
order to do this, it would require the Secretary of State to develop a 
strategy that:
  One, encourages more economic exchanges between the two countries at 
the secondary, postsecondary, and postgraduate levels, especially with 
communities in the southern border region;
  Two, encourages the United States and Mexican academic institutions 
and businesses to collaborate to train aspiring entrepreneurs;
  Three, promotes energy infrastructure coordination and cooperation 
through the support of vocational education, internships, and exchanges 
between both countries; and
  Four, assesses the feasibility of fostering binational partnerships 
between universities and medical school and nursing programs, and that 
is a natural fit that we can do with that particular neighbor to the 
south.
  So, again, if we increase economic exchanges at universities that we 
have in Texas and across California and New Mexico and Arizona and 
other parts, that basically means that we will better prepare our 
students for success in the workplace and increase job opportunities 
for those areas and the small businesses along the border.
  Again, to conclude, I thank the chairman of the Foreign Affairs 
Committee, Chairman Ed Royce. He is very passionate about Mexico, and I 
thank him for that passion.
  I thank Ranking Member Eliot Engel again. He is very passionate. I 
think this is something that we feel is very important about Mexico, 
and I thank him for advancing this bill through the committee.
  And, again, to the staff, both on the Republican side and on the 
Democratic side, I thank them.
  So, to conclude, I encourage my colleagues to support this important 
piece of legislation, and I look forward to seeing this bill pass into 
law.
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Mr. Speaker, I close by again emphasizing the importance of the U.S.-
Mexico relationship. For so many years, this relationship was 
characterized by mistrust. That has changed over the past two decades.
  As just one example, bilateral cooperation on counternarcotics is now 
the norm and led to the extradition of drug kingpin El Chapo Guzman to 
the United States in the last hours of the Obama administration. He is 
on trial now in an American court.
  Mr. Speaker, 20 years ago, it would have been hard to imagine coming 
to the House floor in support of a bipartisan bill on educational 
exchanges with Mexico. Now a bill like this will glide through the 
House with little opposition.
  But we cannot take this cooperation for granted. Far too much is at 
stake to allow the bilateral relationship between the United States and 
Mexico to deteriorate. There is a new government, a new leader of 
Mexico coming in, and I hope we can very swiftly establish the good 
relationship that our two countries have and not dwell on some of the 
recent discussions and problems involving a wall or anything else.

[[Page H9593]]

  So I thank my colleagues for joining me in supporting this 
legislation to double down on the successes in the U.S.-Mexico 
partnership. I thank Chairman Royce, I thank the sponsors of this bill, 
I thank Mr. Cuellar, and I thank all our colleagues for supporting this 
bill. I urge its immediate passage.
  The U.S.-Mexico partnership is one of our most important 
partnerships, and the House of Representatives ought to be doing 
everything it can to enhance that relationship, and that is one of the 
things we are doing by passing this bill today.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of 
my time.
  Mr. Speaker, in closing, I would like to again stress that this is 
one of America's most important relationships.
  I would also like to stress my appreciation for the work of 
Congressman Henry Cuellar not just on this bill, but on the overall 
relationship with Mexico. I have had the opportunity to work with him 
in the past. I know his passion on this, and I appreciate his 
effectiveness.
  I thank Representative Castro as well, and, of course, the ranking 
member of this committee, Mr. Engel. And I should mention the work, 
also, of the chairman of our Homeland Security Committee, Mike McCaul. 
They all worked on the legislation we are considering today.
  I think that educational and professional exchanges really allow 
young American and Mexican students and young professionals the chance 
to not only experience a new culture for them, but also to ensure that 
our young people graduate from school and enter the workforce with the 
skills, the credentials, the experience, and the knowledge also about 
our neighbors, the knowledge they need in the 21st century.
  I urge all of my colleagues to join us in supporting this 
legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Poe of Texas). The question is on the 
motion offered by the gentleman from California (Mr. Royce) that the 
House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 1567, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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