I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5437 
To provide for certain actions by the International Trade Administration 
in order to increase exports by small- and medium-sized enterprises, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 16, 2019 
Mrs. BUSTOS (for herself and Mr. RUTHERFORD) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
A BILL 
To provide for certain actions by the International Trade 
Administration in order to increase exports by small- 
and medium-sized enterprises, and for other purposes. 
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 ‘‘Boosting America’s 
Exports Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) COMMERCIAL SERVICE.—The term ‘‘Com-
mercial Service’’ means the United States and For-
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eign Commercial Service of the Department of Com-
merce. 
(2) DIRECTOR GENERAL.—The term ‘‘Director 
General’’ means the Assistant Secretary for Global 
Markets and Director General of the United States 
and Foreign Commercial Service. 
(3) 
SMALL- 
AND
MEDIUM-SIZED
ENTER-
PRISES.—The term ‘‘small- and medium-sized enter-
prises’’ or ‘‘SMEs’’ means firms with less than 500 
employees. 
(4) UNDER
SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Under 
Secretary’’ means the Under Secretary of Commerce 
for International Trade. 
(5) UNITED STATES EXPORT ASSISTANCE CEN-
TER.—The term ‘‘United States Export Assistance 
Center’’ or ‘‘USEAC’’ means a United States Ex-
port Assistance Center established by the Commer-
cial Service to provide assistance to United States 
firms in exporting their goods and services. 
SEC. 3. ASSESSMENT OF UNITED STATES EXPORT ASSIST-
ANCE CENTERS. 
(a) ASSESSMENT.—The Under Secretary shall con-
duct an assessment of the location of and services provided 
by United States Export Assistance Centers in relation to 
the location of small- and medium-sized enterprises that 
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are exporters or potential exporters of products or serv-
ices. 
(b) REPORT.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than one year 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
Under Secretary shall submit to Congress a report 
on the assessment conducted under subsection (a). 
(2) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The report 
required under this subsection shall identify— 
(A) those locations of USEACs that are 
serving a comparatively high number of SMEs; 
and 
(B) other locations where USEACs should 
be established. 
(c) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Under Secretary shall 
implement the changes recommended in the report sub-
mitted to Congress under subsection (b) not later than 
2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. The 
Under Secretary may establish up to 30 new USEACs on 
the basis of the report. 
SEC. 4. ACTIVITIES OF COMMERCIAL SERVICE. 
(a) INCREASED ACTIVITIES.—The Under Secretary 
shall take the necessary steps, through actions by the 
Commercial Service, to increase the exports, by volume 
and types of products and services, by small- and medium- 
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sized enterprises. In order to achieve that goal, the Direc-
tor General shall set goals and measure exports by SMEs 
in each fiscal year, in particular exports by SMEs that 
had not exported previously, including measuring— 
(1) the total volume of exports, by product and 
type of services, including as compared to the vol-
ume of such exports in the preceding fiscal year; 
(2) the number of non-exporting SMEs con-
tacted through recruitment efforts of the Commer-
cial Service; 
(3) the number of new SMEs exporting in the 
fiscal year; and 
(4) customer service, such as response times 
and customer satisfaction, to SMEs that contact 
United States Export Assistance Centers, in par-
ticular non-exporting SMEs. 
(b) PERSONNEL
FOR USEACS.—The Under Sec-
retary shall ensure that the following is carried out upon 
the implementation of the report submitted under section 
3: 
(1) FUNCTIONS OF PERSONNEL.—Personnel at 
each USEAC shall identify and conduct outreach to 
potential exporters that are SMEs, attend relevant 
business conferences and trade shows to advertise 
the availability of the resources of the USEAC to 
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SMEs, and perform other tasks designed to help 
non-exporting SMEs become exporters. 
(2) ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL.—The Under Sec-
retary shall, in the case of USEACs that are exist-
ing USEACs and not new USEACs established on 
the basis of the report, increase the personnel at 
those USEACs (by an average of not more than 5 
for each USEAC) to the extent necessary to enhance 
the ability of the USEACs, through outreach and 
provision of services to SMEs, to increase exports by 
SMEs, in particular non-exporting SMEs. 
(3) TRADE SPECIALISTS.—The Director Gen-
eral shall ensure that specialists in an increased 
number of areas are on the staff of USEACs in 
order to serve an increased number of SMEs. 
(4) COLLABORATION WITH OTHER ENTITIES.— 
The Director General shall ensure that staff at each 
USEAC is assigned to conduct outreach to and col-
laborate with entities of the States and other non- 
Federal entities with respect to export promotion ac-
tivities designed to increase exports by SMEs. 
(5) ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL.—The Direc-
tor General shall ensure that USEACs have per-
sonnel dedicated to administrative duties as needed 
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in order to enable other personnel to work more on 
client-oriented tasks. 
SEC. 5. ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS. 
The Under Secretary shall submit to Congress an an-
nual report on the implementation of this Act, including 
the actions of the Director General under section 4. 
Æ 
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