[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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