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.
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 ‘‘Small Business Export
Enhancement Act of 1995’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress makes the following findings:
(1) United States exports are concentrated very
heavily among a very few large companies. Only 2
percent of United States businesses account for 85
percent of United States exports.
(2) Small businesses remain a large untapped
resource of potential export growth for the United
States economy. However, small businesses with
competitive products frequently face high transaction
costs and have inadequate information about foreign
markets, factors which limit their ability to export.
(3) There is a significant need for export assist-
ance services targeted to smaller exporters. Over 95
percent of United States exporters have annual ex-
port sales of less than $5,000,000, and 72 percent
of United States export shipments are worth less
than $20,000.
(4) There are over 150 Federal export pro-
motion programs fragmented among 19 different
Federal agencies. Federal export promotion activities
are characterized by duplication of effort, overlap,
inefficient dissemination of services and information,
turf battles, and confusion among both providers
and users of assistance. The Trade Promotion Co-
ordinating Committee concluded that ‘‘for many
small and medium-sized firms, getting through the
bureaucracy may be as great a hurdle as foreign
market barriers’’.
(5) The National Performance Review con-
cluded that the Federal Government must reallocate
businesses. By combining the funds and inter-
national resources of the Federal Government with
the local networks of State-based providers of export
assistance, such partnerships can provide a sharper
focus on long-term export market development than
do traditional trade promotion activities.
SEC. 3. EXPANDING FEDERAL FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR
STATE-BASED EXPORT ENHANCEMENT AC-
TIVITIES.
(a) THE MARKET DEVELOPMENT COOPERATOR PRO-
GRAM.—Of the funds made available in each fiscal year
under section 202 of the Export Administration Amend-
ments Act of 1985 for export promotion programs,
$40,000,000 shall be made available to provide grants to
qualified entities for activities described in section 2303
of the Export Enhancement Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C.
4723).
(b) THE FOREIGN BUYER PROGRAM.—Of the funds
made available in each fiscal year under section 202 of
the Export Administration Amendments Act of 1985 for
export promotion programs, $2,000,000 shall be made
available to provide financial support, on a shared basis,
to small businesses to increase the number of small busi-
nesses participating in activities described in section 2304
of the Export Enhancement Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C.
4724).
(c) TRADE MISSIONS.—
(1) 
GRANT
PROGRAM.—The 
International
Trade Administration (hereafter in this Act referred
to as the ‘‘ITA’’) shall establish a grant program to
provide financial support, on a shared basis, for for-
eign trade missions run by State governments and
designed primarily for participation by small and
medium-sized businesses.
(2) FUNDING.—The ITA shall make available
for the program established under paragraph (1) no
less funds than are available for foreign trade mis-
sions run by the Federal Government. The ITA shall
use funds otherwise available to it to provide finan-
cial support under the program.
(3) CONSIDERATIONS
IN
PROVIDING
SUP-
PORT.—In the selection of trade missions to which
the ITA will provide financial support under this
subsection, the ITA shall consider the extent to
which a proposed trade mission will advance the
State’s economic development and export promotion
strategies.
SEC. 4. DISCRETIONARY FUNDS WITHIN THE INTER-
NATIONAL TRADE ADMINISTRATION.
In order to better fulfill its mandate to promote ex-
ports of goods and services of the United States, particu-
larly by small- and medium-sized businesses, the ITA shall
make it a priority to expand financial support for State-
based export enhancement activities, using funds other-
wise available to the ITA. Such financial support may in-
clude matching grants for new or experimental State-
based export enhancement programs that are not specifi-
cally authorized by the Congress but that have the poten-
tial to facilitate exporting by small businesses.
SEC. 5. IMPROVING INFORMATION AND TECHNICAL ASSIST-
ANCE AVAILABLE TO HELP SMALL BUSI-
NESSES COMPLY WITH EXPORT CONTROL RE-
QUIREMENTS.
Not later than one year after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the heads of Federal agencies involved
in administering controls or regulations concerning the ex-
port of goods or services from the United States shall, in
consultation with small businesses, State departments of
trade, State-based industry trade associations, inter-
national freight forwarding companies, and other State-
based providers of export assistance to small businesses,
jointly establish and implement a plan to—
(1) consolidate information regarding rules and
restrictions on exports and make it available in a
format that is easily accessible by small businesses
that seek to export; and
(2) create an outreach program to inform small
businesses seeking to export of relevant rules and re-
strictions on exports and to provide technical assist-
ance for complying with those rules and restrictions.
SEC. 6. IMPROVING EFFICIENCY TO REALIZE SAVINGS IN
THE OPERATION OF FEDERAL EXPORT AS-
SISTANCE PROGRAMS.
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the ITA, in consultation with other Fed-
eral agencies that provide export assistance services (in-
cluding trade finance and insurance), shall submit to the
Congress a plan to consolidate or eliminate programs that
provide substantially similar export assistance services or
provide export assistance services to substantially similar
recipients. The plan shall identify savings of not less than
$100,000,000 per year (as compared to current costs), to
be achieved primarily through improved efficiency, stream-
lining, and targeting of resources to sectors with high ex-
port potential.
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