Description:
As ordered reported by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on July 24, 2013
H.R. 1409 would broaden the duties and expand the membership of the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCC), a group made up of representatives from federal agencies and established to set national priorities for trade promotion and coordinate trade promotion activities. The bill also would require the Secretary of Commerce to relocate personnel that promote U.S. trade opportunities based on the outcome of an assessment of demand for U.S. exports in overseas markets. In addition, the bill would require Chiefs of Missions in foreign countries to use those assessments in promoting exports from the United States. Finally, the bill would direct the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to prepare an evaluation of the extent to which the TPCC is carrying out its duties under current law and report the findings to the Congress.
CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 1409 would cost about $5 million over the 2014-2018 period, assuming the availability of appropriated funds, for additional staff, overhead, and reporting costs. Based on information from the International Trade Administration, the agency that would administer most of the bill’s provisions, CBO expects that the TPCC would need five additional employees to meet more-labor-intensive requirements for developing a strategic plan for federal trade promotion activities. That activity would account for most of the costs of the bill. In addition, we expect that the Department of State and GAO would incur additional costs to implement provisions of H.R. 1409 that affect their operations.
