William Bryan: “this amendment is regarding the Market Access Program. The Market Access Program, or MAP, was created to encourage the…”

“this amendment is regarding the Market Access Program. The Market Access Program, or MAP, was created to encourage the development, maintenance, and expansion of exports of U.S. agricultural products. MAP is the successor to the Market Promotion Program [MPP], which in turn was the successor to the Targeted Export Assistance Program [TEA], established in 1986. TEA was originally created to ``counter or offset the adverse effect of subsidies, import quotas, or other unfair trade practices of foreign competitors on U.S. agriculture exports.'' Since 1986, over $1.43 billion has been spent for TEA, MPP and now MAP. MAP is operated through about 64 organizations that either run market promotion programs themselves or pass the funds along to companies to spend on their own market promotion efforts. In fiscal year 1994, about 43 percent of all program activities involved generic promotions while 57 percent involved branded promotions. The General Accounting Office [GAO] has pointed out that the entire Federal Government spends about $3.5 billion annually on export promotion. While agricultural products account for only 10 percent of total U.S. exports, the Department of Agriculture spends about $2.2 billion, or 63 percent of the total. The Department of Commerce spends $236 million annually on trade promotion. While the stated goal of MAP is to benefit U.S. farmers, the program has benefited foreign companies.…”