I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 648

To improve small business export assistance.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 24, 1995

Mr. WYDEN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on International Relations

A BILL

To improve small business export assistance.

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 ‘‘Small Business Export

5 Enhancement Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress makes the following findings:

8 (1) United States exports are concentrated very

9 heavily among a very few large companies. Only 2

10 percent of United States businesses account for 85

11 percent of United States exports.
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1 (2) Small businesses remain a large untapped

2 resource of potential export growth for the United

3 States economy. However, small businesses with

4 competitive products frequently face high transaction

5 costs and have inadequate information about foreign

6 markets, factors which limit their ability to export.

7 (3) There is a significant need for export assist8 ance services targeted to smaller exporters. Over 95

9 percent of United States exporters have annual ex10 port sales of less than $5,000,000, and 72 percent

11 of United States export shipments are worth less

12 than $20,000.

13 (4) There are over 150 Federal export pro14 motion programs fragmented among 19 different

15 Federal agencies. Federal export promotion activities

16 are characterized by duplication of effort, overlap,

17 inefficient dissemination of services and information,

18 turf battles, and confusion among both providers

19 and users of assistance. The Trade Promotion Co20 ordinating Committee concluded that ‘‘for many

21 small and medium-sized firms, getting through the

22 bureaucracy may be as great a hurdle as foreign

23 market barriers’’.

24 (5) The National Performance Review con25 cluded that the Federal Government must reallocate
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1 its resources to sectors that have clearly shown

2 growth potential while it works to make its services

3 more accessible to clients.

4 (6) State-based and private sector organizations

5 frequently have better, more timely information

6 about which companies are ready to export, and ex7 actly what type of help they need, than do Federal

8 providers of export assistance.

9 (7) State-based providers of export assistance,

10 including State departments of trade, local industry

11 associations, international freight forwarding compa12 nies, local and regional banks, chambers of com13 merce, and world trade centers, have good local net14 works to deliver services but their resources are lim15 ited in comparison to the Federal Government.

16 (8) Effective outreach by export assistance pro17 viders is key to providing useful service to small

18 businesses.

19 (9) For all companies seeking to export, trade

20 finance is a necessity, and the Federal Government

21 must find ways to help the private sector to deliver

22 trade finance in a useful and profitable way.

23 (10) Partnerships between the Federal Govern24 ment and State-based providers of export assistance

25 can more effectively focus export assistance on small
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1 businesses. By combining the funds and inter2 national resources of the Federal Government with

3 the local networks of State-based providers of export

4 assistance, such partnerships can provide a sharper

5 focus on long-term export market development than

6 do traditional trade promotion activities.

7 SEC. 3. EXPANDING FEDERAL FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR

8 STATE-BASED EXPORT ENHANCEMENT AC9 TIVITIES.

10 (a) THE MARKET DEVELOPMENT COOPERATOR PRO11 GRAM.—Of the funds made available in each fiscal year

12 under section 202 of the Export Administration Amend13 ments Act of 1985 for export promotion programs,

14 $40,000,000 shall be made available to provide grants to

15 qualified entities for activities described in section 2303

16 of the Export Enhancement Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C.

17 4723).

18 (b) THE FOREIGN BUYER PROGRAM.—Of the funds

19 made available in each fiscal year under section 202 of

20 the Export Administration Amendments Act of 1985 for

21 export promotion programs, $2,000,000 shall be made

22 available to provide financial support, on a shared basis,

23 to small businesses to increase the number of small busi24 nesses participating in activities described in section 2304
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1 of the Export Enhancement Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C.

2 4724).

3 (c) TRADE MISSIONS.—

4 (1) GRANT PROGRAM.—The International

5 Trade Administration (hereafter in this Act referred

6 to as the ‘‘ITA’’) shall establish a grant program to

7 provide financial support, on a shared basis, for for8 eign trade missions run by State governments and

9 designed primarily for participation by small and

10 medium-sized businesses.

11 (2) FUNDING.—The ITA shall make available

12 for the program established under paragraph (1) no

13 less funds than are available for foreign trade mis14 sions run by the Federal Government. The ITA shall

15 use funds otherwise available to it to provide finan16 cial support under the program.

17 (3) CONSIDERATIONS IN PROVIDING SUP18 PORT.—In the selection of trade missions to which

19 the ITA will provide financial support under this

20 subsection, the ITA shall consider the extent to

21 which a proposed trade mission will advance the

22 State’s economic development and export promotion

23 strategies.
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1 SEC. 4. DISCRETIONARY FUNDS WITHIN THE INTER2 NATIONAL TRADE ADMINISTRATION.

3 In order to better fulfill its mandate to promote ex4 ports of goods and services of the United States, particu5 larly by small- and medium-sized businesses, the ITA shall

6 make it a priority to expand financial support for State7 based export enhancement activities, using funds other8 wise available to the ITA. Such financial support may in9 clude matching grants for new or experimental State10 based export enhancement programs that are not specifi11 cally authorized by the Congress but that have the poten12 tial to facilitate exporting by small businesses.

13 SEC. 5. IMPROVING INFORMATION AND TECHNICAL ASSIST14 ANCE AVAILABLE TO HELP SMALL BUSI15 NESSES COMPLY WITH EXPORT CONTROL RE16 QUIREMENTS.

17 Not later than one year after the date of the enact18 ment of this Act, the heads of Federal agencies involved

19 in administering controls or regulations concerning the ex20 port of goods or services from the United States shall, in

21 consultation with small businesses, State departments of

22 trade, State-based industry trade associations, inter23 national freight forwarding companies, and other State24 based providers of export assistance to small businesses,

25 jointly establish and implement a plan to—
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1 (1) consolidate information regarding rules and

2 restrictions on exports and make it available in a

3 format that is easily accessible by small businesses

4 that seek to export; and

5 (2) create an outreach program to inform small

6 businesses seeking to export of relevant rules and re7 strictions on exports and to provide technical assist8 ance for complying with those rules and restrictions.

9 SEC. 6. IMPROVING EFFICIENCY TO REALIZE SAVINGS IN

10 THE OPERATION OF FEDERAL EXPORT AS11 SISTANCE PROGRAMS.

12 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact13 ment of this Act, the ITA, in consultation with other Fed14 eral agencies that provide export assistance services (in15 cluding trade finance and insurance), shall submit to the

16 Congress a plan to consolidate or eliminate programs that

17 provide substantially similar export assistance services or

18 provide export assistance services to substantially similar

19 recipients. The plan shall identify savings of not less than

20 $100,000,000 per year (as compared to current costs), to

21 be achieved primarily through improved efficiency, stream22 lining, and targeting of resources to sectors with high ex23 port potential.

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