I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1993

To reauthorize the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the Trade

and Development Agency, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 27, 1999

Mr. MANZULLO (for himself, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. GILMAN, Mr. GEJDENSON,

Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. BENTSEN, Mr. BEREUTER, Mr. BERMAN, Mrs.

BIGGERT, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. BRADY of Texas, Mr. CALLAHAN, Mrs. CLAYTON, Mr. COOKSEY, Mr. COSTELLO, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr.

DELAHUNT, Mr. DELAY, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Mr. ENGLISH, Mr. EWING,

Mr. FATTAH, Mr. FROST, Mr. GALLEGLY, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr.

HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. HOEFFEL, Mr. HOUGHTON, Ms. JACKSON-LEE

of Texas, Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr. KNOLLENBERG, Mr. KOLBE, Mr.

LAHOOD, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. LEACH, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr.

MATSUI, Mrs. MEEK of Florida, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. ORTIZ, Mr.

PACKARD, Mr. PORTER, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. ROTHMAN, Mr. RUSH, Mr.

SAWYER, Mr. SHERMAN, and Mr. BERRY) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on International Relations

A BILL

To reauthorize the Overseas Private Investment Corporation

and the Trade and Development Agency, and for other

purposes.

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

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Export Enhancement

3 Act of 1999’’.

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

5 The Congress makes the following findings:

6 (1) Since it began operations in 1971, the Over7 seas Private Investment Corporation (in this Act re8 ferred to as ‘‘OPIC’’) has sold investment services

9 and mobilized private sector resources to assist de10 veloping countries and emerging democracies in the

11 transition from nonmarket to market economies.

12 (2) In an era of declining Federal budgetary re13 sources, OPIC has consistently demonstrated an

14 ability to operate on a self-sustaining basis to sup15 port United States companies and promote economic

16 reform in emerging economies in Africa, the newly

17 independent states of the former Soviet Union,

18 Latin America, and the Caribbean.

19 (3) OPIC has played an important role in rein20 forcing United States foreign policy goals and in

21 strengthening the United States economy by cre22 ating jobs and promoting exports.

23 (4) Over the past 28 years, projects supported

24 by OPIC have generated over $58,000,000,000 in

25 United States exports, mobilized $121,000,000,000
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1 of United States private sector investment, and cre2 ated more than 237,000 United States jobs.

3 (5) OPIC has been run on a sound financial

4 basis with reserves totaling approximately

5 $3,300,000,000 and with an estimated net budget

6 contribution to the international affairs account of

7 some $204,000,000 in fiscal year 2000.

8 (6) OPIC has maintained a claims recovery rate

9 of 95 percent, settling 254 insurance claims for

10 $541,000,000 and recovering all but $29,000,000

11 since 1971.

12 (7) OPIC programs have served to rectify mar13 ket failures, including limited market information in

14 developing countries and underdeveloped capital

15 markets, by insuring United States firms against

16 economic and market uncertainties.

17 (8) The Trade and Development Agency (in

18 this Act referred to as ‘‘TDA’’) promotes United

19 States business involvement in infrastructure

20 projects in developing and middle income countries.

21 (9) TDA has generated $12,300,000,000 in ex22 ports since its inception, with every $1 in spending

23 for TDA projects leading to the sale of $32 in

24 United States goods and services overseas.
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1 (10) The United States and Foreign Commer2 cial Service (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Commer3 cial Service’’) plays an important role in helping

4 United States businesses identify export opportuni5 ties and develop reliable sources of information on

6 commercial prospects in foreign countries.

7 (11) The Congress has, on several occasions,

8 encouraged the Commercial Service to focus its re9 sources and efforts in countries or regions in Europe

10 and Asia to promote greater United States export

11 activity in those markets.

12 (12) The Congress supports the expansion of

13 the Rural Export Initiative by the International

14 Trade Administration (in this Act referred to as the

15 ‘‘ITA’’) of the Department of Commerce, particu16 larly those elements related to the use of information

17 technology and electronic commerce techniques.

18 SEC. 3. POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS.

19 The Congress makes the following declarations:

20 (1) OPIC should set its fees at levels sufficient

21 to cover all operating costs, repay any subsidy ap22 propriations, and set aside adequate reserves against

23 future losses.

24 (2) OPIC should maintain a conservative ratio

25 of reserves to contingent liabilities and limit its obli-
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1 gations in any one country in its worldwide finance

2 or insurance portfolio.

3 (3) Projects supported by OPIC should not dis4 place commercial finance or insurance offerings and

5 should encourage private sector financing and insur6 ance participation.

7 (4) Independent auditors should report annually

8 to the Congress on the level of OPIC’s reserves in

9 relation to its liabilities and provide an analysis of

10 the trends in the levels of reserves and liabilities and

11 the composition of its insurance and finance port12 folios, including OPIC’s investment funds.

13 (5) OPIC should double the dollar value of its

14 support for small businesses over the next four

15 years.

16 (6) In administering the programs and activi17 ties of the ITA, the Secretary of Commerce should

18 give particular emphasis to obtaining market access

19 for United States firms and to securing full compli20 ance with bilateral and multilateral trade agree21 ments.

22 (7) The ITA should facilitate the entrance of

23 United States businesses into the countries of sub24 Saharan Africa and Latin America.
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1 (8) The Commercial Service, within the ITA,

2 should consider expanding its presence in urban

3 areas and in urban enterprise areas.

4 SEC. 4. OPIC ISSUING AUTHORITY.

5 Section 235(a)(2) of the Foreign Assistance Act of

6 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2195(a)(3)) is amended by striking

7 ‘‘1999’’ and inserting ‘‘2003’’.

8 SEC. 5. TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT AGENCY.

9 (a) PURPOSE.—Section 661(a) of the Foreign Assist10 ance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2421(a)) is amended by in11 serting before the period at the end of the second sentence

12 the following: ‘‘, with special emphasis on economic sectors

13 with significant United States export potential, such as

14 energy, transportation, telecommunications, and environ15 ment’’.

16 (b) CONTRIBUTIONS OF COSTS.—Section 661(b) of

17 the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2421(b))

18 is amended by adding at the end the following:

19 ‘‘(5) CONTRIBUTIONS TO COSTS.—The Trade

20 and Development Agency shall, to the maximum ex21 tent practicable, require corporations and other enti22 ties to—

23 ‘‘(A) share the costs of feasibility studies

24 and other project planning services funded

25 under this section; and
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1 ‘‘(B) reimburse the Trade and Develop2 ment Agency those funds provided under this

3 section, if the corporation or entity concerned

4 succeeds in implementing the project for which

5 the funds were provided.’’.

6 (c) FUNDING.—Section 661(f) of the Foreign Assist7 ance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2421(f)) is amended—

8 (1) in paragraph (1)(A) by striking

9 ‘‘$77,000,000’’ and all that follows through ‘‘1996’’

10 and inserting ‘‘$48,000,000 for fiscal year 2000 and

11 such sums as may be necessary for each fiscal year

12 thereafter’’; and

13 (2) in paragraph (2)(A), by striking ‘‘in fiscal

14 years’’ and all that follows through ‘‘provides’’ and

15 inserting ‘‘in carrying out its program, provide, as

16 appropriate, funds’’.

17 SEC. 6. PROGRAMS OF THE INTERNATIONAL TRADE ADMIN18 ISTRATION.

19 (a) FUNDING.—There are authorized to be appro20 priated to the ITA—

21 (1) for fiscal year 2000, $24,000,000 for its

22 Market Access and Compliance program,

23 $68,000,000 for its Trade Development program,

24 and $202,000,000 for the Commercial Service pro25 gram; and
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1 (2) for each fiscal year thereafter, such sums as

2 may be necessary for the programs referred to in

3 paragraph (1).

4 (b) APPOINTMENTS.—Subject to the availability of

5 appropriations, the Secretary of Commerce, acting

6 through the Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Direc7 tor General of the United States and Foreign Commercial

8 Service, shall take steps to ensure that Commercial Serv9 ice employees are stationed in no fewer than 10 sub-Saha10 ran African countries and that the Commercial Service

11 has full-time employees in each country in South and Cen12 tral America and an adequate number of employees in the

13 Caribbean to ensure that United States businesses are

14 made aware of existing market opportunities for goods

15 and services.

16 (c) INITIATIVE FOR SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA AND

17 LATIN AMERICA.—The Assistant Secretary of Commerce

18 and Director General of the United States and Foreign

19 Commercial Service shall make a special effort to—

20 (1) identify those goods and services of United

21 States companies which are not being exported to

22 Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa but which

23 are being exported to countries in those regions by

24 competitor nations;
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1 (2) identify trade barriers and noncompetitive

2 actions, including violations of intellectual property

3 rights, that are preventing or hindering the oper4 ation of United States companies in sub-Saharan

5 Africa and Latin America;

6 (3) publish on an annual basis the information

7 obtained under paragraphs (1) and (2);

8 (4) bring such information to the attention of

9 authorities in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin Amer10 ica with the goal of securing greater market access

11 for United States exporters of goods and services;

12 and

13 (5) report to the Speaker of the House of Rep14 resentatives and the President of the Senate the re15 sults of the efforts to increase the sales of United

16 States goods and services in sub-Saharan Africa and

17 Latin America.

18 (d) GLOBAL DIVERSITY AND URBAN EXPORT INITIA19 TIVE FOR THE ITA.—The ITA shall undertake an initia20 tive entitled the ‘‘Global Diversity and Urban Export Ini21 tiative’’ to increase exports from minority-owned busi22 nesses, focusing on businesses in under-served areas, in23 cluding inner-city urban areas and urban enterprise zones.

24 The initiative should use electronic commerce technology
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1 and products as another means of helping urban-based

2 and minority-owned businesses export overseas.

3 (e) AUTHORIZATION FOR ADVERTISING.—The ITA is

4 authorized to advertise in newspapers, business journals,

5 and other relevant publications and related media to in6 form businesses about the services offered by the ITA.

7 SEC. 7. BOARD OF DIRECTORS.

8 Section 233(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961

9 (22 U.S.C. 2193(b)) is amended—

10 (1) by striking the second and third sentences;

11 (2) in the fourth sentence by striking ‘‘(other

12 than the President of the Corporation, appointed

13 pursuant to subsection (c) who shall serve as a Di14 rector, ex officio)’’;

15 (3) in the second undesignated paragraph—

16 (A) by inserting ‘‘the President of the Cor17 poration, the Administrator of the Agency for

18 International Development, the United States

19 Trade Representative, and’’ after ‘‘including’’;

20 and

21 (B) by adding at the end the following:

22 ‘‘The United States Trade Representative may

23 designate a Deputy United States Trade Rep24 resentative to serve on the Board in place of the

25 United States Trade Representative.’’; and
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1 (4) by inserting after the second undesignated

2 paragraph the following:

3 ‘‘There shall be a Chairman and a Vice Chairman

4 of the Board, both of whom shall be designated by the

5 President of the United States from among the Directors

6 of the Board other than those appointed under the second

7 sentence of the first paragraph of this subsection.’’.

8 SEC. 8. STRATEGIC EXPORT PLAN.

9 Section 2312(c) of the Export Enhancement Act of

10 1988 (15 U.S.C. 4727(c)) is amended—

11 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph

12 (5);

13 (2) by striking the period at the end of para14 graph (6) and inserting a semicolon; and

15 (3) by adding at the end the following:

16 ‘‘(7) ensure that all export promotion activities

17 of the Agency for International Development are

18 fully coordinated and consistent with those of other

19 agencies;

20 ‘‘(8) identify means for providing more coordi21 nated and comprehensive export promotion services

22 to, and on behalf of, small and medium-sized busi23 nesses; and

24 ‘‘(9) establish a set of priorities to promote

25 United States exports to, and free market reforms
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1 in, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and

2 other emerging markets, that are designed to stimu3 late job growth both in the United States and those

4 regions and emerging markets.’’.

5 SEC. 9. IMPLEMENTATION OF PRIMARY OBJECTIVES.

6 The Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee

7 shall—

8 (1) report on the actions taken or efforts cur9 rently underway to eliminate the areas of overlap

10 and duplication identified among Federal export pro11 motion activities;

12 (2) coordinate efforts to sponsor or promote

13 any trade show or trade fair;

14 (3) work with all relevant State and national

15 organizations, including the National Governors’ As16 sociation, that have established trade promotion of17 fices;

18 (4) report on actions taken or efforts currently

19 underway to promote better coordination between

20 State, Federal, and private sector export promotion

21 activities, including co-location, cost sharing between

22 Federal, State, and private sector export promotion

23 programs, and sharing of market research data; and

24 (5) by not later than September 30, 1999, in25 clude the matters addressed in paragraphs (1), (2),
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1 (3), and (4) in the annual report required to be sub2 mitted under section 2312(f) of the Export En3 hancement Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C. 4727(f)).

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