HR5248-119

What This Bill Does

The PROFIT Act reorganizes economic diplomacy inside the Department of State. It creates an Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment and assigns that office responsibility for international economic policy, commercial expansion, energy exports, critical minerals, emerging technology standards, civil and commercial space policy, natural-resource protection, and sanctions policy. It also moves administration of the CHIPS Act International Technology Security and Innovation Fund under that under secretary.

The bill creates or redesignates several State Department offices. It establishes an Assistant Secretary and Bureau for Sanctions Policy, creates a Chief Economist and Office of the Chief Economist, replaces the existing economic and business affairs office with an Assistant Secretary and Bureau for Economic and Business Affairs, creates an Office of Subnational Diplomacy for work with state and local governments, creates an Assistant Secretary and Bureau for Energy Security and Diplomacy, and creates an Assistant Secretary and Bureau for Water, Environment, and Space Affairs. It also directs staffing rules for economic-affairs offices, updates statutory references to old office names, and allows Department of Energy or national-laboratory personnel to serve as energy advisers in embassies and other diplomatic missions.

Who Benefits and How

United States exporters, investors, and private sector companies benefit because the bill makes commercial advocacy, foreign market access, investment promotion, and contract support explicit State Department responsibilities. United States energy exporters and critical minerals companies gain dedicated diplomatic support for energy-security policy, international energy markets, and supply-chain diversification. Semiconductor and technology companies benefit from clearer State Department oversight of the International Technology Security and Innovation Fund. State governments, city governments, and municipal economic-development offices receive a dedicated Office of Subnational Diplomacy to help attract foreign direct investment, host international events, and assess foreign malign influence risks. United States commercial space companies, fisheries, maritime operators, and conservation organizations receive a clearer diplomatic bureau for space, oceans, fisheries, and environmental negotiations. Civil service employees with economic, legal, policy, and technical expertise gain expanded opportunities to fill director, deputy director, and special-assistant roles in economic-affairs offices.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The Secretary of State, the new Under Secretary, State Department bureaus, and State Department economic-affairs staff must implement the reorganization, coordinate new policy responsibilities, manage reports to Congress, and administer new office structures. Federal taxpayers bear the cost of funding the new offices and the appropriations directed to economic affairs, commercial diplomacy, sanctions policy, water and space affairs, and energy diplomacy. Foreign governments, sanctioned individuals, illicit finance networks, and people targeted for human-rights visa sanctions face higher enforcement exposure from the new sanctions-policy bureau. Foreign malign influence operators face more scrutiny from subnational-diplomacy support to state and local officials. Foreign Service officers may face tighter access to some economic-affairs director and deputy director jobs because the bill generally reserves those positions for civil service officers and caps Foreign Service appointments during the phase-in period. The Office of Law Revision Counsel receives classification and editorial-note duties for the new title 22 provisions.

Key Provisions

• Creates an Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment with authority over economic growth, commercial expansion, energy, technology, critical minerals, space, natural resources, and sanctions policy.
• Amends the CHIPS Act to place the International Technology Security and Innovation Fund under the new under secretary within the State Department.
• Establishes an Assistant Secretary and Bureau for Sanctions Policy to coordinate sanctions strategy, enforcement, foreign-partner coordination, and visa sanctions related to human rights violations.
• Creates a Chief Economist and Office of the Chief Economist to analyze supply-chain resilience, critical minerals, economic coercion, sanctions evasion, and market-access issues for State Department leaders.
• Establishes commercial diplomacy and subnational diplomacy offices to help United States businesses win foreign contracts, attract investment, and help state and local governments manage foreign engagement risks.
• Creates energy-security, water, environment, and space affairs offices to coordinate international energy policy, critical minerals, oceans, fisheries, Antarctica, conservation, and commercial space diplomacy.
• Requires a 180-day report to Congress on recruiting and retaining economic, policy, legal, and technical expertise in State Department civil-service roles.
• Authorizes Department of Energy and national-laboratory personnel to serve as energy advisers in United States embassies and diplomatic missions.