Export Promotion Reform Act
Latest action. Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
Export Promotion Reform Act - Amends the Export Enhancement Act of 1988 to revise the duties of the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCC).
Requires the TPCC to review the proposed annual budget of each federal agency, before it is submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the President, when (as required by current law) assessing the appropriate levels and allocation of resources among such agencies in support of export promotion and export financing.
Requires the governmentwide strategic plan for federal trade promotion efforts, in conducting the review of current federal programs designed to promote the sale of U.S. exports and developing a plan to bring such activities into line with specified priorities, to take into account recommendations from a representative number of U.S. exporters, particularly small business and medium-sized businesses, and representatives of U.S. workers.
Directs the President to issue an executive order and necessary regulations to provide the TPCC chairperson with the authority to ensure that the TPCC carries out each of its duties and develops and implements the strategic plan.
Requires the Secretary of Commerce to: (1) conduct at least once every five years a global assessment of overseas markets to determine those with the greatest potential for increasing U.S. exports, and (2) deploy U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service personnel and other resources on the basis of that assessment.
Amends the Foreign Service Act of 1980 to require each chief of mission to a foreign country to develop an approved plan for effective diplomacy to remove or reduce obstacles to exports of U.S. goods and services.
Requires the Inspector General of the Department of State and the Foreign Service to evaluate the commercial effectiveness of diplomacy to promote exports of U.S. goods and services.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House amended" stage on May 30, 2012. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on June 4, 2012: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 112th Congress (2011-12), 283 of the 10,618 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
HOWARD BERMAN (D-CA) introduced it on February 15, 2012, and 1 member has since signed on as a cosponsor.
They are 1 Republican.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on February 15, 2012, 5368 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 5258 days ago, on June 4, 2012.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 112th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2013 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers