Today’s announcements reflect feedback from and partnerships with local communities and the private sector, as well as ongoing initiatives underway across the Federal government to leverage all of our national assets, and it lets the world know that America is open for business.

Choosing America

The United States competes with countries around the world to retain domestic and attract international travelers, but we have traditionally been at a competitive disadvantage as compared to other countries that have a “Ministry of Tourism” to coordinate nationwide efforts and have a national marketing campaign. In addition to the Executive Order establishing a Task Force on Travel and Competitiveness, President Obama signed into law the Travel Promotion Act in 2010. The Federal government is taking concrete action to ensure more domestic and international tourists choose the United States:

• National Travel and Tourism Strategy. The Departments of Commerce and the Interior led a government-wide effort to outline a long term strategy for increasing both domestic and international tourism. This is a blueprint for the Federal government to reach our goal of attracting and welcoming 100 million international visitors, who we estimate will spend $250 billion, annually by the end of 2021. The National Travel and Tourism Strategy maps out what the government can and will do to enable job growth in the travel and tourism industry. The Department of Commerce also will create a national travel and tourism office to provide day-to-day support needed to implement the National Travel and Tourism Strategy.

• International Travel Promotion Campaign. Earlier this month, Brand USA, the non-profit organization created by the Travel Promotion Act that is charged with promoting foreign travel to the United States, officially launched its first set of international marketing campaigns to promote the United States as a travel destination abroad. Promotion efforts have begun in Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom, and are planned for South Korea and Brazil later this year. The DiscoverAmerica.com website has also been refurbished to provide valuable information about Brand USA’s efforts.

• Leveraging Messengers and Outlets. Using high-profile spokespeople, websites, social media tools, and our diplomatic presence in 192 countries around the world, government agencies will work together to create innovative mechanisms to communicate interesting travel opportunities to the international public and travel professionals globally.

• Providing Key Indicators of Travel and Tourism Performance. To give international travelers the tools they need to plan their trips, the Department of Commerce has developed a Travel and Tourism Dashboard to provide performance indicators for international travel to the United States and travel facilitation programs. This online resource provides the international travel and tourism industry, as well as private citizens and public sector stakeholders, accurate information about changes in visa interview wait times in key markets, international visitor and spending data, changes in flight processing times at key international airports, and estimated travel demand levels.

• Partnerships with Local Tourism Leaders. The Department of the Interior is partnering with local communities (e.g., San Francisco, Miami, Orlando, Las Vegas, Denver, Seattle, and the Chesapeake region) to develop itineraries to encourage travelers to extend their visits to more and lesser-known destinations. This information will help local tourism officials develop partnerships with local small businesses and private sector vendors to not only expose travelers to all of America’s treasures, but also to foster increased economic activity as these tourists extend their travels.

Getting to America

The Visa Waiver Program (VWP) is the flagship of our international tourism strategy. Over 60 percent of all overseas travelers to the United States are from VWP countries. In 2010, these travelers generated over $60 billion in annual tourism revenue. While the VWP remains the largest travel facilitation program, the Obama Administration is also committed to easing travel for the approximately 40 percent of international travelers who currently require visas to enter the United States. Building on the progress made over the past several years and in response to the President’s Executive Order, the Obama Administration is facilitating legitimate travel to America while maintaining security by:

• Supporting Legislative Improvements to the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). The Obama Administration supports and is committed to working with Congress on legislation to strengthen and expand VWP eligibility to nations with low visa refusal rates and rapidly growing economies, consistent with national security requirements.

• Increasing Arrivals. Comparing the first six months of fiscal year 2012 to the first six months of fiscal year 2011, arrivals of travelers using the Visa Waiver Program have increased by 8 percent and arrivals of travelers from China and Brazil have increased by 33 percent and 18 percent, respectively. Total non-immigrant admissions, which consists of admissions of travelers who are not U.S. citizens or returning residents, have increased by 4.5 percent during the same period.

• Shortening Visa Interview Wait Times. Around the world, wait times for visa interviews are generally short, and have dropped dramatically in some of the busiest travel markets where demand for visas is highest. Now, travelers currently wait less than one week for an appointment at U.S. consulates in China, less than one week in the Brazilian cities of Brasilia, Recife, and Rio de Janeiro, and 30 days or less in São Paulo. In anticipation of the summer travel season, the Department of State is adding staff and streamlining its operations to continue to keep visa interview wait times low.

• Streamlining the Visa Process. A new pilot program now underway at the Department of State to streamline visa processing will free up more interview slots for first-time applicants and allow consular officers to more effectively spend their time evaluating higher-risk visa applicants. Consular officers may waive in-person interviews for certain low-risk, qualified individuals, such as those renewing their visas within 48 months of the expiration of their previous visas, and Brazilian applicants below the age of 16 and age 66 and older. Consular officers retain the authority to interview any applicant in any category if security or other concerns are present.

• Building Capacity in China and Brazil to Meet Demand. The Department of State is investing approximately $68 million in 2012 on existing facilities in Brazil and $22 million in China – adding interview windows, expanding consular office space, and improving waiting areas. President Obama has recently announced that the United States will establish consulates in Belo Horizonte and Porto Alegre, Brazil, while major expansion projects are underway in China.

• Increasing Consular Staffing and Implementing Innovative Hiring Programs. To address immediate growth in demand and ensure that the United States can continue to offer timely visa services to qualified applicants, the Department of State is doubling the number of diplomats performing consular work in China and Brazil over the next year. Similarly, the first group of newly hired consular adjudicators recently arrived at U.S. consulates in Brazil and China. These adjudicators were hired under a program targeting recruits who already speak Portuguese or Mandarin.

Traveler Experience in America

Close to one million people enter the U.S. every day via ports of entry operated by the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection, with other Federal agencies and employees playing a critical role in providing the first impression of America and facilitating tourism throughout the country while maintaining security. The following represent a sampling of efforts underway at U.S. ports of entry and throughout the nation to improve the customer experience of travelers in America:

• Enhancing the Traveler Experience at U.S. Airports. To improve the secure processing of passengers at U.S. airports, the Department of Homeland Security continues to expand and strengthen U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) trusted traveler programs. As of the beginning of May, over one million pre-approved, low risk trusted travelers have Global Entry benefits and we expect even more international travelers will take advantage of this program this summer, when South Korea joins. Members of Global Entry use kiosks to expedite the entry process into the United States at 25 of our busiest international airports, as well as seven pre-clearance sites in Canada. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has launched TSA Pre✓™, an expedited screening program for U.S. citizen domestic travelers, at 14 of the nation’s busiest airports and will be expanding to an additional three airports by the end of June. TSA has already screened over one million travelers though this pre-screening initiative. CBP is also launching a website where foreign travelers can access their I-94 arrival-departure forms in an initiative to digitize forms used at airports. These efforts will collectively reduce wait times and labor costs at U.S. airports.

• Releasing New Visitor Information and Data on Public Lands. In the spirit of open and transparent government, the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture and Defense recently released new data on our national public lands. Recreation.gov was originally designed to be a tool to help the public make reservations for visits to our public lands. The database has been updated and fully populated with visitor information about all of our national treasures, and is now accessible to the public in a user friendly format that will enable small businesses and technology companies to develop additional promotional, itinerary, and web-enabled applications. Furthermore, Interior plans to completely redesign recreation.gov to provide a much more seamless, one-stop-shop for planning and making reservations for thousands of recreation sites in the United States.

• Expanding Foreign Language Service & Youth Job Opportunities. The Department of the Interior is piloting innovative ways to use technology to provide information and interpretive content to non-English speaking visitors. By taking advantage of technologies like smartphones and translation apps, we are providing new, dynamic content in the most in-demand languages, and will be able to continually reassess and respond to new language and information needs. Additionally, each summer the Department of the Interior hires 20,000 young people to work on our public lands and, as part of the Administration’s Summer Jobs+ program, is dedicating 30 percent of these new hires for visitor outreach and education, with a particular eye towards developing family friendly activities and adventures in our nation’s parks and refuges.

• Small Business Capacity Building. The Small Business Administration (SBA) is releasing new online outreach to provide advice and resources for small businesses in the travel and tourism industry, to help them prepare for and make the most of the upcoming travel season. Additionally, SBA will host an upcoming webinar for small businesses that would like to learn how to work with travel and tour operators.

• Increasing Distribution of the “America the Beautiful” Pass. The Department of the Interior has made it easier for more partners to become third-party vendors of the annual America the Beautiful pass, which provides pass holders with unlimited access to hundreds of public lands and waters nationwide. They are actively reaching out and encouraging partners to both sell the pass online, at trade shows, and in other tourism venues as well as to develop promotions for buying and using the pass. The goal is to increase sales to both Americans and international visitors, who will then have an incentive to visit more destinations and lesser-known locations, and to extend their stays.

Over the past year, the Federal Government has been working to implement President Obama’s directions for a 21st-century regulatory system, which he described in Executive Order 13563, “Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review.”  Executive Order 13563 requires U.S. regulators, to the extent permitted by law, to select approaches that maximize net benefits; choose the least burdensome alternative; increase public participation in the rulemaking process; design rules that are simpler and more flexible, and that provide freedom of choice; and base regulations on sound science. Executive Order 13563 also calls for an ambitious, government-wide “lookback” at existing rules, with the central goal of eliminating outdated requirements and unjustified costs.

Today, President Obama has built on Executive Order 13563 by signing a historic Executive Order on Promoting International Regulatory Cooperation.  The new Executive Order will promote American exports, economic growth, and job creation by helping to eliminate unnecessary regulatory differences between the United States and other countries and by making sure that we do not create new ones.

As I discuss in an op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal, the order makes clear that in eliminating such differences, we will respect domestic law and will not compromise U.S. priorities and prerogatives. Even while insisting on those priorities and prerogatives, we can eliminate pointless red tape. Today’s global economy relies on supply chains that cross national borders (sometimes more than once), and different regulatory requirements in different countries can significantly increase costs for companies doing business abroad. As the President’s Jobs Council recently noted, international regulatory cooperation canreduce these costs and help American businesses access foreign markets.  Such cooperation can also help U.S. regulators more effectively protect the environment and the health and safety of the American people.

Today’s Executive Order calls for, among other things, an interagency working group, chaired by OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, to provide a forum to foster greater cooperation and coordination of U.S. Government strategies, including those for promoting regulatory transparency, sound regulatory practices, and U.S. regulatory approaches abroad.  Today’s Order also requires Federal agencies, as part of the President’s retrospective review initiative under Executive Order 13563, to consider regulatory reforms that eliminate unnecessary differences between the United States and its major trading partners.

As we work with other governments to tackle unnecessary differences in regulation, we must continue to protect the environment and the health and safety of Americans. Today’s Executive Order emphasizes this point while reaffirming the primacy of domestic law and national prerogatives.

The new Executive Order will build on work that is already underway. We have started close to home, with President Obama launching Regulatory Cooperation Councils with Prime Minister Harper of Canada and President Calderon of Mexico. The Councils are implementing work plans to eliminate or prevent the creation of unnecessary regulatory differences that adversely affect cross-border trade; to streamline regulatory requirements; and to promote greater certainty for the general public and businesses, particularly small- and medium-sized enterprises, in the regulation of food, pharmaceuticals, nanotechnology, and other areas. The United Statesand Canada released the United States-Canada Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC) Joint Action Plan last December. In February, we announced the United States-Mexico High-Level Regulatory Cooperation Council (HLRCC) Work Plan.

I invite you to review both plans and provide your thoughts and ideas on how we can reduce red tape and unjustified costs by increasing regulatory cooperation, in North America and beyond.  Just email us at international-oira@omb.eop.gov.  The ideas we have received from the public have helped shape our efforts to date, and continued public engagement will help ensure that we make meaningful progress in the years to come.

Cass Sunstein is the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

Today, I am in Atlanta on the campus of Georgia Tech for a “Day of Engineering” Facebook pep rally to kick off the President’s new STAY WITH IT campaign devoted to recruiting, retaining and graduating 10,000 engineers each year to maintain America’s competitive edge. Corporate leaders, educators and students have gathered for dialogue and panel discussions on the dire need to increase the number of American engineers. Fourteen universities from across the nation are participating via Facebook viewing parties. Spearheaded by Intel President & CEO, Paul Otellini, who is also a member of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, the STAY WITH IT campaign will provide mentors and other supports to increase the number of American engineering graduates which has fallen woefully behind other surging economies and has led to a shortage of skilled workers for American jobs.

More than 65 companies have already committed to doubling their 2012 summer engineering internships, including Intel, GE and DuPont – making an overall $70 million investment in giving students valuable hands-on experience. In addition, engineering deans from some of the nation’s top universities – including Georgia Tech – have developed a gold seal standard of excellence for colleges and universities focused on improved retention and graduation rates.

The participation of NASA and Intel is particularly important because aerospace and computer technology are clearly the growth industries of the future; but the only way to ensure that growth is by maintaining a constant pipeline of qualified workers. The centerpiece of our efforts to overcome close the skills gap is the engagement of more students in the study of science, technology, engineering and math or the STEM disciplines.

NASA is now embarking on ambitious agenda of deep space exploration that will carry our astronauts to places where we have never been, including an asteroid and eventually Mars. We need engineers to help us design the new rockets and capsules that will carry us there. We need scientists and researchers to help us develop materials to withstand the stresses of deep space exploration, to sustain humans for long-duration stays in space, to make air transportation quicker, safer and more efficient and to aid us in our quest to unravel the mysteries of the cosmos and improve life here on Earth.

My message to the students participating in Georgia Tech’s Day of Engineering was simple: Stay With It! Stay with your studies. Stay with your research. Stay with your dreams as you prepare to take your rightful place as the next great generation of American engineers, innovators and leaders.

March 14, 2012

America needs jobs. Yet Congress cannot enact such basic legislation as the reauthorization of the Surface Transportation Bill that would create hundreds of thousands of jobs. Instead, this week Congress once again is looking to deregulate Wall Street—this time in the form of the cynically named JOBS Act, which would weaken the ability of the Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate our capital markets and allow companies to sell stock to the public without providing three years of audited financial statements, without having adequate internal controls and without complying with key corporate governance reforms in the recently passed Dodd-Frank Act.

We still have millions of unemployed workers as a direct result of decades of financial deregulation. Workers’ pension funds have yet to recover from the effects of the last time we created a bubble in IPOs during the late 1990s.  And yet members of both parties in Congress seem bent on repeating these experiences, even as congressional Republicans block any initiative that might really create jobs and set our economy toward the path of long-term prosperity.

In case our own ugly history with stock bubbles and financial fraud is not enough, Congress should heed the warnings from other developed countries that recently have experimented with deregulated securities markets. In the 1990s, Canadian regulators condemned the “continuing occurrence of shams, swindles and market manipulations” on the Vancouver Stock Exchange of loosely regulated small company stocks. More recently, the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market has been described as a “casino” for its highly speculative small company stock listings.

Workers’ retirement savings will be in greater risk of fraud and speculation if securities market deregulation once again is railroaded through Congress. Once again our economy will be at risk from the folly of policymakers promoting financial bubbles and ignoring the needs of the real economy. The AFL-CIO calls on Congress to set aside the politics of the 1%, the old game of special favors for Wall Street, and turn to the business of real job creation. The labor movement strongly opposes the JOBS Act and any other effort to weaken the Dodd-Frank Act.

We support the efforts of Senate Democrats such as Jack Reed, Carl Levin, and Mary Landrieu to amend the “JOBS Act” to lessen the harm it does to investors, pension funds, and the U.S. economy.

We want jobs, not cynical Wall Street scams.

During his visit, the Secretary discussed the President’s FY2013 Budget, which includes common-sense proposals to revitalize American infrastructure by creating a 21^st century transportation network that allows companies to ship their goods more efficiently throughout the country and the world. The U.S. Senate is scheduled to consider a key part of that plan – a multi-year surface transportation reauthorization bill – this week. A modern transportation infrastructure network, supported by both public and private investment is vital for the economy and job creation.

As President Obama stated in his recent State of the Union, manufacturing is a key part of creating an “America Built to Last.” However, the majority of manufacturers are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit and hire qualified workers. As demonstrated at the beginning of the discussion, many of the PMPA participants raised their hands when asked who currently needed, but could not find more employees. During the course of the meeting however, several important ideas were put on the table along with new Administration-sponsored programs and initiatives aimed at restoring America’s manufacturing sector.

Positive program suggestions came again in the form of public-private partnerships between local community colleges and businesses. These partnerships allow for the development of specific workforce training programs in addition to a direct feed of skilled workers for employers. State and federal grants, specifically the Trade Adjustment Assistance Grant Program, allow community colleges to continually update their facilities with the latest equipment and machinery, an important issue raised by a participant.

Several other partnerships, programs and initiatives were discussed including the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP), a national effort bringing together industry, universities, and the federal government to invest in the emerging technologies that will create high quality manufacturing jobs and enhance America’s global competitiveness. Additionally, Michael Molnar, the Chief Manufacturing Officer of the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) confirmed manufacturing as its top priority and highlighted a partnership with AMP along with a commitment to the recently established “Make it in America” program. Lastly, Administration representatives noted the release of the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) “National Strategic Plan for Advanced Manufacturing.” Recently released in February 2012, the report focuses on important opportunities for federal policy to aid in the sector’s development as well as upcoming challenges.

Overall, the joint discussion, organized by the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, Permac Industries CEO and Jobs Council Member Darlene Miller, and PMPA, demonstrated the enthusiasm and willingness of both public and private sectors to work towards a common goal of supporting revitalizing the manufacturing sector.  The meeting provided an excellent opportunity for small business leaders to both have their voices heard and learn about the many innovative programs the administration is undertaking to help small businesses and build the economy.

Visa Interview Wait Times Drop Dramatically in Brazil

Recognizing the importance of tourism to the U.S. economy, the Department of State continues to refine the visa process in major markets to help attract more visitors to premier U.S. travel destinations – without compromising border security.  Streamlining visa processing supports the Department’s “Jobs Diplomacy” initiative to promote America’s economic renewal.

Brazil, a key market for tourism to the United States, is a major focus of the Department’s efforts.  Visa interview wait times now average just two weeks or less in Brasilia, Recife, and Rio de Janeiro, and less than 30 days in Sao Paulo, the Department’s busiest nonimmigrant visa processing post.

By adding staff, extending interview hours, and expanding facilities, the Department has dramatically reduced longer wait times experienced at the height of the busy season last summer.  Now more than ever, qualified Brazilian tourists have the ability to travel to the United States, and year-over-year demand for visas remains high.  In January 2012, the U.S. Mission in Brazil processed more than 86,000 visa applications, an increase of 60 percent over January 2011.  Most Brazilians receive visas valid for short visits over many years so they can enjoy all America has to offer, year after year.

More information about visa processing and interview wait times is available online at travel.state.gov.

Framework Would Simplify the Tax Code, Eliminate Dozens of Tax Loopholes and Subsidies, and Incentivize Job Creation, Investment at Home

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today released the President’s framework for reforming the U.S. business tax system, which would enhance American competitiveness by simplifying the tax code and eliminating dozens of tax loopholes and subsidies, incentivizing job creation and investment here at home and lowering the business rate while broadening the tax base.

“In order to make us more competitive and create jobs here at home, we must reform our corporate tax code,” said Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. “The President’s framework would boost growth and provide American companies with incentives to invest in the U.S. while simplifying and cutting taxes for our small businesses.”

Under the current tax system, the United States will soon have the highest statutory corporate tax rate among developed countries, within a system that features a large number of tax expenditures for special interests. This puts American businesses—especially those in areas like manufacturing that are subject to more intense international competition—at a disadvantage. And this system is also unnecessarily complicated for America’s small businesses.

For these reasons, the current business tax system is uncompetitive, unfair, and inefficient—distorting choices about where to produce, what to invest in, how to finance a business, and how to incorporate. As a result, the U.S. business tax system does too little to encourage job creation and investment in the United States and creates too many opportunities that encourage shifting production and profits overseas.

The President’s framework for reform seeks to address those deficiencies in a way that is fiscally responsible. The details put forward today also make clear that the Administration is committed to working with experts, stakeholders and lawmakers on a bipartisan basis to enact tax reform, including business tax reform that improves the tax treatment of a range of businesses from large corporations to small businesses and does so with fewer tax expenditures, less complexity and lower rates without adding to the deficit.

This report describes the current state of the U.S. business tax system and lays out a framework for reform that includes five major elements:

1. Eliminate dozens of tax loopholes and subsidies, broaden the base and cut the corporate tax rate to spur growth in America: The framework eliminates dozens of different tax expenditures and fundamentally reforms the business tax base to reduce distortions that hurt productivity and growth. It reinvests these savings to lower the corporate tax rate to 28 percent, putting the United States in line with major competitor countries and encouraging greater investment.

2. Strengthen American manufacturing and innovation: The framework would refocus the manufacturing deduction and use the savings to reduce the effective rate on manufacturing to no more than 25 percent, while encouraging greater research and development and the production of clean energy.

3. Strengthen the international tax system, including establishing a new minimum tax on foreign earnings, to encourage domestic investment: Our tax system should not give companies an incentive to locate production overseas or engage in accounting games to shift profits abroad, eroding the U.S. tax base. Introducing the principle of a minimum tax on foreign earnings would help address these problems and discourage a global race to the bottom in tax rates.

4. Simplify and cut taxes for America’s small businesses: Tax reform should make tax filing simpler for small businesses and entrepreneurs so that they can focus on growing their businesses rather than filling out tax returns.

5. Restore fiscal responsibility and not add a dime to the deficit: Business tax reform should be fully paid for and lead to greater fiscal responsibility than our current business tax system by either eliminating or making permanent and fully paying for temporary tax provisions now in the tax code.

To view the President’s framework for reforming business taxation, please visit this link.

The-Presidents-Framework-for-Business-Tax-Reform-02-22-2012

BusinessUSA combines information and services from 10 different government agencies through one consolidated website and coordinated telephone support through a single 1-800 number. The BusinessUSA website already presents hundreds of business resources, in one place. And more is on the way.

Take some time to visit BusinessUSA.gov.

Office of the Press Secretary

February 17, 2012

President Obama Takes Actions to Promote American Manufacturing and Increase U.S. Exports at Boeing

Today, the President will visit the Boeing assembly facility in Everett, Washington, to announce new steps aimed at promoting American manufacturing and increasing U.S. exports. Manufacturing represents nearly 60% of total U.S. exports, and Boeing is one of the country’s leading exporters of manufactured goods with more than $34 billion in total exports in 2011, up over 45% since 2006. Today’s announcement will follow through on the President’s commitment to provide sufficient export financing to put American manufacturers on an even footing with our foreign competitors, provide expanded support for small business exporters and take the next step in the President’s proposal to reorganize the trade and competitiveness agencies by expanding the responsibilities of the Export Promotion Cabinet.This is the most recent of a series of executive actions the President has announced to put Americans back to work and strengthen the U.S. economy.

“Two years ago, I set a goal of doubling U.S. exports over five years.” said President Obama. “Today, we’re on track to meet that goal – ahead of schedule.  But we need to do more, which is why I’m pleased to announce several steps that will help more American businesses sell their products around the world, create jobs right here at home, and help us build an economy that lasts.”

In this year’s State of the Union Address, the President laid out a Blueprint for an America Built to Last, a blueprint that starts with American manufacturing. During the past two years, we have begun to see positive signs in American manufacturing – with the manufacturing sector adding more than 400,000 jobs, the first period of sustained job growth in manufacturing since the 1990s. The President recognizes the vital role manufacturing plays in our economy, and that is why the President’s plan encourages investment in manufacturing, supports U.S. innovation and the growth of U.S. exports.  In his 2010 State of the Union Address, the President launched the National Export Initiative with the goal of doubling our nation’s exports in five years. After two years, we are on pace to meet the President’s goal. Exports are up nearly 34% over the level of exports in 2009, exceeding $2.1 trillion in total value in 2011.

Today’s announcements build on the Administration’s past efforts to open up markets for American goods and level the playing field for American companies. Over the past year, the President has signed into law a series of trade agreements that will provide a major boost to our exports by making it easier for American companies to sell their products in South Korea, Colombia, and Panama. In addition, record-setting efforts at the Export-Import Bank – through direct loans, credit guarantees, and credit insurance – have helped U.S. exports remain on target to meet the President’s goal. Building on these existing efforts, the Export-Import Bank is continuing to expand its offerings to help support business exporting.

The Administration has provided important support to Boeing’s export success. Currently, Boeing is building the world’s most advanced commercial airplane, the 787 Dreamliner, directly employing nearly 8,000 people across the country to do so.  The company is also working with nearly 11,000 small, medium and large supplier businesses, spending $28 billion. Boeing has suppliers in all 50 states, providing goods and services like the airplane’s ground-breaking carbon fiber composite aircraft structure from Kansas, advanced jet engines from Ohio, wing components from Oklahoma, and revolutionary electrochromic windows from Alabama. Boeing has already received orders for 870 Dreamliners with over 80% of the current orders to be shipped around the world to at least 25 countries like Japan, Australia, China, France and Singapore.  Over the past three years, financing from the Export-Import Bank has supported export sales of more than 460 U.S. manufactured Boeing commercial aircraft worth approximately $60 billion to qualified customers.  Just this month, Boeing finalized the largest single order in aviation history with Lion Air, the largest airline in Indonesia, for 230 Boeing 737 aircraft, valued at over $21 billion. The Export-Import Bank played a critical role to support that deal coming together. Ethiopian Airlines, one of the strongest airlines in Africa, will take delivery of some of the first Boeing 787 aircraft later this year, made possible in part by support from the Administration.

Nationally, the Export Import Bank has had a tremendous impact. In FY 2011, the Bank set export financing records for the third-straight year, including overall financing exceeding $32 billion, a nearly 34% increase since 2010, and the highest level of financing in the Bank’s 77-year history.  This financing has supported $41 billion in U.S. exports from over 3,600 U.S. companies and almost 290,000 export-related American jobs.  In particular, the Bank is important for small and medium exporters, and its financing for smaller exporters has risen over 70% over the last three years, comprising more than 85% of the Bank’s transactions.  And these programs come at no cost to U.S. taxpayers, as the Bank not only operates on a self-sustaining basis, but it has returned well over $3 billion to the U.S. Treasury since 2005.

Today the President will announce:

Financing to Put American Companies on an Even Footing: Right now, China and other global competitors often provide unfair advantages to help their companies win business overseas. In his State of the Union address, the President stated that the Administration would take action to level the playing field for U.S. companies and workers when our competitors don’t play by global export financing rules. Today, the President will announce that the Administration will actively employ its existing authorities so that the Export-Import Bank can provide U.S. firms competing for domestic or third-country sales with matching financing support to counter foreign non-competitive official financing that fails to observe international disciplines. The President will not allow U.S. companies and workers to lose out on valuable business due to unfair export financing – and will use the Administration’s full powers to ensure that they are competing on an even footing.

New Credit for Small Business Exporters: Today, the President will announce that the Export Import Bank will launch a pilot program, Global Credit Express, to help small business exporters access hard-to-find short term working capital lines of credit.  Working with their existing lenders, small businesses will be able to apply directly to the Export-Import Bank for 6-12 month loans of up to $500,000.  This year, the program could help small exporters access up to $100 million in much needed capital. At the same time, today Boeing committed to joining the Export-Import bank’s Supply Chain Financing Program, which helps firms, including Caterpillar and Case New Holland advance funds against export-related contracts, providing liquidity and working capital more quickly and on better terms. Through this partnership Boeing’s small business suppliers will be able to access over $700 million in short-term credit this year.

A Call to Reauthorize the Export-Import Bank: In December 2011, Congress extended the Bank’s authorization through the end of May 2012, at its current lending ceiling of $100 billion. However, due to unprecedented demands for export financing in recent years, the Bank estimates it will hit this lending ceiling at the end of March. Unless the Bank’s authorization is renewed, and its lending cap is raised to an appropriate level, the Bank will be forced into the unprecedented position of having to halt all new transactions. Re-authorization of the Bank is critical for U.S. exporters, particularly manufacturers, which account for almost 60% of all U.S. exports, so that they can compete with foreign companies that enjoy far more aggressive support from their countries’ export credit agencies.  The U.S. trails countries like Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, India, and Italy in official export credit financing as a share of Gross Domestic Product – many times over. Failure to re-authorize the Bank will give competitors, like China, an unfair edge in global trade, with the costs of decreases in U.S. exports and good American jobs.

A Simplified Process for Foreign Trade Zones: Today, the Department of Commerce will announce simplified processes and paperwork for Foreign Trade Zones, designated locations where companies can use special procedures to delay or reduce duty payments on foreign merchandise. There are over 250 zones and 500 subzones that help encourage manufacturing and investment in the US, in industries including automotive machinery and equipment and pharmaceuticals. The rule change will provide a streamlined, shorter and more effective process for manufacturers and exporters seeking FTZ authority that will help expedite decision making and reduce paperwork burdens. These simplifications will contribute to the National Export Initiative goal to double exports by the end of 2014 and the Administration’s goal of attracting and retaining manufacturing activity and manufacturing jobs in the United States.

Legislation to Make it Easier for America’s Businesses to Export: On Thursday, the Obama Administration sent Congress the Consolidating and Reforming Government Act of 2012, to reinstate the authority Presidents held for decades to reorganize and consolidate the Federal government, adding, for the first time, a requirement that any reorganization plan must save money or reduce the size of government. Earlier this year, the President announced that, if Congress gives him consolidation authority, his first action would be to make it easier for America’s job creators to access the services they need to grow and export. The President laid out a plan to bring together six agencies and a handful of other related programs into a single more efficient and effective department with a laser-like focus on promoting American business, exports and competitiveness, while saving taxpayers $3 billion dollars.  Until Congress acts, however, we need to do everything we can administratively to enhance our trade and competitiveness programs.

A Presidential Memorandum to Strengthen the Export Promotion Cabinet: Today, the President will issue a Presidential Memorandum, Maximizing the Effectiveness of Federal Trade Investment and Functions, which directs the Export Promotion Cabinet to work across agencies to maximize combined effectiveness of their programs and initiatives in support of the Administration’s strategic trade and investment goals and priorities. The Memorandum gives the Export Promotion Cabinet stronger authority to align interagency efforts and directs the Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs, Michael Froman, to coordinate its activities. The Memorandum also directs the Export Promotion Cabinet, in consultation with the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee, to evaluate resource allocations, make recommendations for streamlining overlapping or duplicative programs, and create a unified Federal trade budget.  The Presidential Memorandum also directs the Cabinet to take steps to ensure we are most efficiently using federal agencies’ domestic and foreign offices and distribution networks. Finally, the Presidential Memorandum directs the Cabinet to work with the National Economic Council to coordinate administrative initiatives to enhance programs that support American businesses, particularly small businesses, in order to help them innovate, grow, and increase exports. The Export Promotion Cabinet was established via executive order on March 11, 2010.

The Launch of BusinessUSA: Today, the Administration will officially launch BusinessUSA (http://business.usa.gov), a virtual one stop shop that makes it easier for America’s businesses to access the services and information they need to help them grow, hire and export. To strengthen America’s competitiveness in the global economy, the President believes businesses need to be equipped with the best tools and information available to support innovation and job growth in the 21st century. That’s why he directed his Administration to create BusinessUSA as the front door to all the government has to offer. BusinessUSA implements a “no wrong door” policy for small businesses and exporters by using technology to quickly connect businesses to the services and information relevant to them, regardless of where the information is located or which agency’s website, call center, or office they go to for help. To ensure that it is oriented towards the needs of the customer, BusinessUSA has been developed with the active feedback of U.S. businesses.