Susan Davis: “First, I certainly want to thank Chairman Wolf, Ranking Member Fattah, and, of course, the committee for putting…”

“First, I certainly want to thank Chairman Wolf, Ranking Member Fattah, and, of course, the committee for putting together a strong bill in what we all know has become an increasingly tough environment for appropriations bills. This year's Commerce-Justice-Science bill is clearly the product of a great deal of bipartisan collaboration, and, as a result, this bill provides strong funding for a number of important priorities that both Democrats and Republicans can get behind. In that vein, I want to offer an amendment which I believe both sides of the aisle should be able to support. While only a small portion of the overall Department of Commerce budget, the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service plays a critical role in helping American small business owners export their products to foreign countries--and we know that about 95 percent of the world's customers live overseas. Unfortunately, while this year's CJS bill does a decent job of funding the Department of Commerce, it failed to fully match the President's requested increase of funds for the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service. Unfortunately, that will mean that we will, once again, continue the trend of underfunding this vital national resource. Specifically--and I wanted to note these three points--this amendment helps small businesses who can benefit from overseas consumer activity by helping them learn how to navigate red tape imposed by governments overseas.…”