I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 534 

To require the Secretary of State to take such actions as may be necessary 

for the United States to rejoin the Bureau of International Expositions, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 13, 2017 

Mr. EMMER (for himself, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. NOLAN, Mr. 

PETERSON, Mr. PAULSEN, Mr. LEWIS of Minnesota, Mr. WALZ, and Mr. 

WEBER of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of State to take such actions as 

may be necessary for the United States to rejoin the 

Bureau of International Expositions, 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘U.S. Wants to Com5 pete for a World Expo Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) The Bureau of International Expositions 

2 (BIE) is a treaty-based organization, with 169 mem3 ber states, responsible for governing World Fairs 

4 and International Expositions since the signing of 

5 the Convention Concerning International Expositions 

6 on November 22, 1928. The United States is a party 

7 to the Convention. 

8 (2) The United States withdrew from member9 ship in the BIE in 2001 in response to congressional 

10 limitations on the expenditure of funds for United 

11 States participation. 

12 (3) The United States and other non-members 

13 of the BIE face significantly higher costs to host 

14 and to participate in international expositions be15 cause of their non-member status. 

16 (4) The bid of a United States city, region, or 

17 State to host an international exposition is unlikely 

18 to be successful if the United States is not a mem19 ber of the BIE, because BIE rules require that 

20 members receive a preference over non-members for 

21 all such bids. 

22 (5) Since the United States was previously a 

23 member of the BIE, and has already acceded to the 

24 Convention, no formal congressional action is nec25 essary for the United States to rejoin the BIE. 


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1 (6) Section 1(a) of Public Law 91–269 (22 

2 U.S.C. 2801(a)) found that ‘‘international expo3 sitions . . . have a significant impact on the eco4 nomic growth of the region surrounding the expo5 sition and . . . are important instruments of na6 tional policy’’. 

7 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

8 It is the sense of Congress that— 

9 (1) there are no statutory provisions that pro10 hibit the United States from rejoining the BIE; 

11 (2) the United States should rejoin the BIE im12 mediately to promote public diplomacy, global brand13 ing, and tourism to the United States; and 

14 (3) the Secretary of State, in partnership with 

15 the Secretary of Commerce, State and local govern16 ments, and private and non-profit entities, should 

17 take all necessary steps to facilitate the timely sub18 mission of a request to rejoin the BIE. 

19 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

21 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 

22 shall take such actions as may be necessary for the United 

23 States to rejoin the BIE, notwithstanding any prohibitions 

24 under section 204 of the Admiral James W. Nance and 


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1 Meg Donovan Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal 

2 Years 2000 and 2001 (22 U.S.C. 2452b). 

3 (b) REPORT.—The Secretary of State shall inform 

4 the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Rep5 resentatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of 

6 the Senate upon submitting a request to rejoin the BIE. 

Æ 


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