[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 648 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 648

 To amend the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 to extend and expand the 
  Market Access Program and the Foreign Market Development Cooperator 
                                Program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 31, 2023

   Mr. Newhouse (for himself, Mr. Costa, Mr. Mann, Ms. Schrier, Mrs. 
   Hinson, Mr. Panetta, Mr. Finstad, and Ms. Pingree) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 to extend and expand the 
  Market Access Program and the Foreign Market Development Cooperator 
                                Program.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Agriculture Export Promotion Act of 
2023''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) between 1977 and 2019, the export promotion programs of 
        the Department of Agriculture--
                    (A) have added an average of $9,600,000,000 
                annually to the value of United States agricultural 
                exports, equal to a total of nearly $648,000,000,000, 
                or 13.7 percent, in additional export revenue; and
                    (B) have generated a net return of $24.50 for every 
                dollar invested;
            (2) between 2002 and 2019, the export promotion programs of 
        the Department of Agriculture--
                    (A) have contributed to the creation of up to 
                225,800 full- and part-time jobs across the United 
                States economy; and
                    (B) have added up to $45,000,000,000 in gross 
                economic output and $22,300,000,000 in gross domestic 
                product;
            (3) communities across the United States producing 
        agricultural commodities as varied as apples, cotton, beef, 
        soybeans, rice, wheat, dairy, corn, citrus, wine, pork, 
        peanuts, cranberries, lentils, tree nuts, timber, poultry, 
        potatoes, and seafood have utilized the export promotion 
        programs of the Department of Agriculture to increase access to 
        foreign markets;
            (4) private sector contributions have helped maintain the 
        public-private partnership between the Department of 
        Agriculture and private agricultural groups as available funds 
        from the Department of Agriculture have declined, with private 
        contributions representing approximately 70 to 77 percent of 
        the funds available for export promotion from 2013 to 2019;
            (5) foreign competitors have expanded their agricultural 
        export promotion programs at a far faster rate than the United 
        States, placing United States producers at a competitive 
        disadvantage in international markets;
            (6) the economic impact of the export promotion programs of 
        the Department of Agriculture has eroded in recent years, as 
        funding for the Market Access Program has remained static since 
        2006 and funding for the Foreign Market Development Cooperator 
        Program has remained static since 2002, while inflation has 
        increased; and
            (7) a recent academic analysis found that doubling public 
        funding for the Market Access Program and the Foreign Market 
        Development Cooperator Program, coupled with increasing private 
        contributions ranging from 10 to 20 percent, would result in 
        average annual gains in agricultural exports of approximately 
        $7,400,000,000.

SEC. 3. AGRICULTURAL TRADE PROMOTION AND FACILITATION.

    Section 203(f) of the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 
5623(f)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (2)--
                    (A) by striking ``2019 through 2023'' and inserting 
                ``2024 through 2029''; and
                    (B) by striking ``$255,000,000'' and inserting 
                ``$489,500,000''; and
            (2) in paragraph (3)(A)--
                    (A) in the matter preceding clause (i), by striking 
                ``2019 through 2023'' and inserting ``2024 through 
                2029'';
                    (B) in clause (i), by striking ``$200,000,000'' and 
                inserting ``$400,000,000''; and
                    (C) in clause (ii), by striking ``$34,500,000'' and 
                inserting ``$69,000,000''.
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