Description:
As ordered reported by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on March 7, 2012
H.R. 4041 would require the Secretary of Commerce to assess overseas markets, at least once every five years, to determine which markets present the greatest opportunities to increase United States exports. The Secretary would be required to relocate personnel that promote U.S. trade opportunities based on the outcome of the assessment. The bill also would require Chiefs of Missions in foreign countries to use those assessments in promoting United States exports.
Based on information from the Department of State and the International Trade Administration, the agencies that would administer the bill's provisions, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 4041 would have discretionary costs of less than $500,000 a year, totaling about $1 million over the 2012-2017 period, assuming the availability of appropriated funds.
Enacting H.R. 4041 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
H.R. 4041 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
On January 17, 2012, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 2987, the American Export Promotion and Job Creation Act, as introduced on September 21, 2011. The language in that bill is similar to that in H.R. 4041 and the estimated costs for the two bills are identical.
