II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1839 

To amend the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 to extend and expand the 

market access program and the foreign market development cooperator 

program. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 19, 2017 

Mr. KING (for himself, Mrs. ERNST, Mr. DONNELLY, and Ms. COLLINS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 to extend 

and expand the market access program and the foreign 

market development cooperator program. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cultivating Revitaliza5 tion by Expanding American Agricultural Trade and Ex6 ports Act’’ or the ‘‘CREAATE Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) between 1977 and 2014, the export pro2 motion programs of the Department of Agriculture 

3 (referred to in this section as the ‘‘programs’’)— 

4 (A) added an average each year of 

5 $8,150,000,000 to the value of United States 

6 agricultural exports, a total of 

7 $309,700,000,000 in export revenue, or 15.3 

8 percent of the total value of United States agri9 cultural exports during that period; and 

10 (B) generated a net return of $28.30 for 

11 each dollar invested; 

12 (2) between 2002 and 2014, under less than 

13 full employment, the programs— 

14 (A) added an average each year of 2.7 per15 cent, or $8,400,000,000, to farm cash receipts; 

16 (B) contributed up to 239,800 full- and 

17 part-time jobs across the United States econ18 omy; 

19 (C) added up to $39,300,000,000 in gross 

20 economic output; and 

21 (D) added up to $16,900,000,000 in gross 

22 domestic product; 

23 (3) communities across the United States pro24 ducing agricultural commodities such as apples, cot25 ton, beef, soybeans, rice, wheat, dairy, corn, citrus, 


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1 wine, pork, peanuts, cranberries, lentils, tree nuts, 

2 timber, poultry, potatoes, and seafood have used the 

3 programs to increase the foreign market access of 

4 the communities; 

5 (4) private sector contributions have helped to 

6 maintain the public-private partnership between the 

7 Department of Agriculture and private agricultural 

8 groups as available funds from the Department of 

9 Agriculture have declined, with private contributions 

10 representing approximately 70 percent of the funds 

11 available for export promotion in 2014; 

12 (5) foreign competitors have expanded agricul13 tural export promotion programs at a far faster rate 

14 than the United States, placing United States agri15 cultural producers at a competitive disadvantage in 

16 international markets; 

17 (6) the economic impact of the programs has 

18 eroded in recent years, as, while inflation has in19 creased— 

20 (A) funding for the market access program 

21 established under section 203 of the Agricul22 tural Trade Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 5623) has 

23 remained static since 2006; and 

24 (B) funding for the foreign market devel25 opment cooperator program established under 


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1 title VII of the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 

2 (7 U.S.C. 5721 et seq.) has remained static 

3 since 2002; and 

4 (7) a recent academic analysis found that dou5 bling public funding for the market access program 

6 and the foreign market development cooperator pro7 gram and an increase in private contributions from 

8 10 to 50 percent would result in average annual 

9 gains, under less than full employment— 

10 (A) in agricultural exports from 

11 $3,400,000,000 to $4,500,000,000; and 

12 (B) in gross domestic product from 

13 $4,500,000,000 to $6,000,000,000. 

14 SEC. 3. MARKET ACCESS PROGRAM. 

15 Section 211(c)(1)(A) of the Agricultural Trade Act 

16 of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 5641(c)(1)(A)) is amended— 

17 (1) by striking ‘‘not more than’’ and all that 

18 follows through ‘‘through 2018,’’; and 

19 (2) by striking ‘‘Corporation; and’’ and insert20 ing ‘‘Corporation— 

21 ‘‘(i) for fiscal year 2018, 

22 $200,000,000; 

23 ‘‘(ii) for fiscal year 2019, 

24 $240,000,000; 


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1 ‘‘(iii) for fiscal year 2020, 

2 $280,000,000; 

3 ‘‘(iv) for fiscal year 2021, 

4 $320,000,000; 

5 ‘‘(v) for fiscal year 2022, 

6 $360,000,000; and 

7 ‘‘(vi) for fiscal year 2023, 

8 $400,000,000; and’’. 

9 SEC. 4. FOREIGN MARKET DEVELOPMENT COOPERATOR 

10 PROGRAM. 

11 Section 703(a) of the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 

12 (7 U.S.C. 5723(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘in the amount 

13 of’’ and all that follows through the period at the end and 

14 inserting ‘‘in an amount equal to— 

15 ‘‘(1) for fiscal year 2018, $34,500,000; 

16 ‘‘(2) for fiscal year 2019, $41,400,000; 

17 ‘‘(3) for fiscal year 2020, $48,300,000; 

18 ‘‘(4) for fiscal year 2021, $55,200,000; 

19 ‘‘(5) for fiscal year 2022, $62,100,000; and 

20 ‘‘(6) for fiscal year 2023, $69,000,000.’’. 

Æ 


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