I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1567 
To promote economic partnership and cooperation between the United States 
and Mexico. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 16, 2017 
Mr. CUELLAR introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs 
A BILL 
To promote economic partnership and cooperation between 
the United States and Mexico. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United States-Mexico 
Economic Partnership Act’’. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 
The purpose of this Act is to promote economic part-
nership and cooperation between the United States and 
Mexico, particularly in the areas of academic exchange, 
entrepreneurship, and infrastructure integration. 
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SEC. 3. EXPANSION OF UNITED STATES-MEXICO ACADEMIC 
EXCHANGE PROGRAMS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—It shall be the policy of the United 
States to increase United States-Mexico academic ex-
changes at the secondary, post-secondary, and post-grad-
uate levels. 
(b) PRIORITY.—The exchanges described in sub-
section (a) should be across the United States and Mexico, 
however, priority should be given to strengthening ties be-
tween communities and academic institutions in the cov-
ered United States-Mexico border region. 
(c) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that— 
(1) the exchanges described in subsection (a) 
should reflect the goals of the 100,000 Strong in the 
Americas Initiative; and 
(2) the United States and Mexico should seek 
to contribute to doubling the number of students 
studying in each other’s country by not later than 5 
years after the date of the enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF UNITED STATES-MEXICO EN-
TREPRENEURSHIP COOPERATION, TRAINING, 
AND MENTORING PROGRAMS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall develop a 
plan to implement policies and programs that support co-
operation, training, and mentoring of entrepreneurs. 
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(b) ELEMENTS.—The policies and programs de-
scribed in subsection (a) shall seek to create innovation 
through United States and Mexican academic institutions 
and businesses assisting prospective and developing entre-
preneurs in strengthen their business skills and promoting 
cooperation and joint business initiatives across the 
United States and Mexico, with a focus on the covered 
United States-Mexico border region. 
(c) MATCHING FUNDS.—The policies and programs 
described in subsection (a) should seek to ensure United 
States Government funds are, at a minimum, matched by 
private sector funds for purposes of carrying out such poli-
cies and programs. 
(d) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that the policies and programs described in sub-
section (a) should reflect the goals of the 100,000 Strong 
in the Americas Initiative and should seek to provide not 
less than 100 grants of not more than $25,000 each for 
participants in such programs to better leverage participa-
tion by the private sector. 
(e) REPORT.—The President shall submit to Con-
gress a report on the plan described in subsection (a) not 
later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 
Act. 
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SEC. 5. UNITED STATES-MEXICO ENERGY INFRASTRUC-
TURE COORDINATION AND COOPERATION 
PROGRAMS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall develop a 
plan to implement policies and programs that promote 
United States-Mexico energy infrastructure coordination 
and cooperation through support of vocational-level edu-
cation, internships, and exchanges between the two coun-
tries, particularly in the region in which the Eagle Ford 
Shale is located and in proximity to such region. 
(b) ELEMENTS.—The policies and programs de-
scribed in subsection (a) shall seek to develop skills related 
to safe and responsible energy extraction and other inno-
vative energy technologies that can be provided by edu-
cational institutions located in the region described in sub-
section (a) or in proximity to such region, including by 
seeking to provide such skills to individuals in Mexico who 
are seeking vocational level jobs in Mexico’s energy sector. 
(c) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that the policies and programs described in sub-
section (a) should seek to provide education, internships, 
and exchanges for at least 1,000 participants. 
(d) REPORT.—The President shall submit to Con-
gress a report on the plan described in subsection (a) not 
later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 
Act. 
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SEC. 6. MEDICAL SCHOOL PILOT PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall develop a 
plan, in coordination with the private sector and non-profit 
organizations, to implement a pilot program to develop a 
pipeline between undergraduate colleges and universities 
in the United States and medical school programs in Mex-
ico. The pilot program should be utilized to prepare med-
ical students to become doctors who can pass medical li-
censing board exams in the United States. 
(b) ELEMENTS.—The pilot program described in sub-
section (a) shall seek to ensure that medical school pro-
grams in Mexico shall have comparable accreditation 
standards as medical school program in the United States 
by the Accreditation and Standards in Foreign Medical 
Education as well as registered in the International Med-
ical Education Directory. 
(c) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that the pilot program described in subsection (a) 
should seek to increase the number of bilingual medical 
professionals in a cost-effective manner who can practice 
in United States under-served communities. 
(d) REPORT.—The President shall submit to Con-
gress a report on the plan described in subsection (a) not 
later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 
Act. 
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SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) 100,000 STRONG IN THE AMERICAS INITIA-
TIVE.—The term ‘‘100,000 Strong in the Americas 
Initiative’’ means the initiative established in March 
2011 by the United States Government to increase 
educational exchanges in the Western Hemisphere. 
(2) COVERED UNITED STATES-MEXICO BORDER 
REGION.—The term ‘‘covered United States-Mexico 
border region’’ means those portions of the United 
States and Mexico that are within 100 kilometers of 
the international boundary between those countries. 
Æ 
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