Bustos Introduces Boosting America's Exports Act

Statement

Today, Congresswoman Cheri Bustos (IL-17) introduced the Boosting America's Exports (BAE) Act, which will strengthen the economy and create good-paying American jobs by helping small- and medium-sized businesses increase their exports. Congressman John Rutherford (FL-4) is co-sponsoring the bill.

"Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and create two out of every three new jobs. That's why I'm introducing the Boosting America's Exports Act to help small businesses and startup entrepreneurs reach their full potential by identifying opportunities to export American-made products to consumers around the world," Congresswoman Bustos said. "As the middle class continues to grow globally, we want to make sure that this emerging market is buying American-made products while boosting our small businesses' ability to compete globally. By building an economic environment that helps businesses succeed, we'll strengthen working families in communities across Illinois."

"Small and emerging businesses are the lifeblood of the American economy," said Congressman Rutherford. "In an ever-growing global marketplace, we must ensure that American small businesses have the resources they need to stay competitive. That's why I joined Congresswoman Bustos to introduce the bipartisan Boosting America's Exports Act. This bill would give small and medium-sized companies that are not currently exporting their goods the assistance they need to sell "Made in America' products around the world."

Illinois is home to more than 1.2 million small businesses, which employ nearly half of the state's private sector workforce. But for many small business owners, the prospect of entering a new foreign market can be a daunting and time-consuming challenge. Reports show that tens of thousands of American businesses never get the help needed to expand into new markets. While export assistance centers do exist to assist with this kind of work, less than 15% of small businesses are aware of them or the services they can offer.

The BAE Act provides American businesses with the help and guidance that will allow them to expand into foreign markets by:

1. Directing the U.S. Commercial Service to design metrics and set goals relating to new-to-exporting firms served by the agency's programs.

2. Instructing assistance centers to conduct outreach to non-exporting firms, enhance collaboration with state and local export promotion programs and hire additional trade specialists and administrative staff as needed

3. Instructing the Undersecretary of International Trade to conduct an assessment of whether export assistance centers are optimally located in order to reach small- and medium-sized businesses.

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