[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5437 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5437
To provide for certain actions by the International Trade
Administration in order to increase exports by small- and medium-sized
enterprises, and for other purposes.
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IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
December 16, 2019
Mrs. Bustos (for herself and Mr. Rutherford) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
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A BILL
To provide for certain actions by the International Trade
Administration in order to increase exports by small- and medium-sized
enterprises, and for other purposes.
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 ``Boosting America's Exports Act''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Commercial service.--The term ``Commercial Service''
means the United States and Foreign Commercial Service of the
Department of Commerce.
(2) Director general.--The term ``Director General'' means
the Assistant Secretary for Global Markets and Director General
of the United States and Foreign Commercial Service.
(3) Small- and medium-sized enterprises.--The term ``small-
and medium-sized enterprises'' or ``SMEs'' means firms with
less than 500 employees.
(4) Under secretary.--The term ``Under Secretary'' means
the Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade.
(5) United states export assistance center.--The term
``United States Export Assistance Center'' or ``USEAC'' means a
United States Export Assistance Center established by the
Commercial Service to provide assistance to United States firms
in exporting their goods and services.
SEC. 3. ASSESSMENT OF UNITED STATES EXPORT ASSISTANCE CENTERS.
(a) Assessment.--The Under Secretary shall conduct an assessment of
the location of and services provided by United States Export
Assistance Centers in relation to the location of small- and medium-
sized enterprises that are exporters or potential exporters of products
or services.
(b) Report.--
(1) In general.--Not later than one year after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary shall submit to
Congress a report on the assessment conducted under subsection
(a).
(2) Matters to be included.--The report required under this
subsection shall identify--
(A) those locations of USEACs that are serving a
comparatively high number of SMEs; and
(B) other locations where USEACs should be
established.
(c) Implementation.--The Under Secretary shall implement the
changes recommended in the report submitted to Congress under
subsection (b) not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment
of this Act. The Under Secretary may establish up to 30 new USEACs on
the basis of the report.
SEC. 4. ACTIVITIES OF COMMERCIAL SERVICE.
(a) Increased Activities.--The Under Secretary shall take the
necessary steps, through actions by the Commercial Service, to increase
the exports, by volume and types of products and services, by small-
and medium-sized enterprises. In order to achieve that goal, the
Director General shall set goals and measure exports by SMEs in each
fiscal year, in particular exports by SMEs that had not exported
previously, including measuring--
(1) the total volume of exports, by product and type of
services, including as compared to the volume of such exports
in the preceding fiscal year;
(2) the number of non-exporting SMEs contacted through
recruitment efforts of the Commercial Service;
(3) the number of new SMEs exporting in the fiscal year;
and
(4) customer service, such as response times and customer
satisfaction, to SMEs that contact United States Export
Assistance Centers, in particular non-exporting SMEs.
(b) Personnel for USEACs.--The Under Secretary shall ensure that
the following is carried out upon the implementation of the report
submitted under section 3:
(1) Functions of personnel.--Personnel at each USEAC shall
identify and conduct outreach to potential exporters that are
SMEs, attend relevant business conferences and trade shows to
advertise the availability of the resources of the USEAC to
SMEs, and perform other tasks designed to help non-exporting
SMEs become exporters.
(2) Additional personnel.--The Under Secretary shall, in
the case of USEACs that are existing USEACs and not new USEACs
established on the basis of the report, increase the personnel
at those USEACs (by an average of not more than 5 for each
USEAC) to the extent necessary to enhance the ability of the
USEACs, through outreach and provision of services to SMEs, to
increase exports by SMEs, in particular non-exporting SMEs.
(3) Trade specialists.--The Director General shall ensure
that specialists in an increased number of areas are on the
staff of USEACs in order to serve an increased number of SMEs.
(4) Collaboration with other entities.--The Director
General shall ensure that staff at each USEAC is assigned to
conduct outreach to and collaborate with entities of the States
and other non-Federal entities with respect to export promotion
activities designed to increase exports by SMEs.
(5) Administrative personnel.--The Director General shall
ensure that USEACs have personnel dedicated to administrative
duties as needed in order to enable other personnel to work
more on client-oriented tasks.
SEC. 5. ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS.
The Under Secretary shall submit to Congress an annual report on
the implementation of this Act, including the actions of the Director
General under section 4.
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