S.Amdt. 3127

SA 3127. Mr. CARDIN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
him to the bill S. 4638, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2025 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle F of title XII, add the following:

SEC. 1291. OFFICE OF THE CHIEF ECONOMIST.

(a) In General.--There is established at the Department of
State an Office of the Chief Economist.
(b) Duties.--The Office will be led by the Chief Economist
of the Department of State, at the Senior Executive Service
or equivalent level, and shall be responsible for--
(1) conducting economic research, collecting and analyzing
data, and preparing reports and assessments and policy
recommendations to senior Department leadership on
international economic trends, opportunities, and challenges
and unanticipated global developments with economic impacts;
and
(2) providing economic analysis to inform policy making,
including related to--
(A) international trade and trade policy;
(B) international macroeconomics and finance;
(C) economic development;
(D) competition and industrial strategy;
(E) economic sanctions development and implementation, and
sanctions evasion; and
(F) capacity building;
(3) coordinating with allies and partners, other relevant
agencies, departments, and stakeholders on international
economic matters;
(4) identifying countries vulnerable to PRC economic
coercion, and analyzing commodities, products, services, and
other economic linkages of each such country that may be
vulnerable targets for PRC economic coercion, including
examining risk factors such as--
(A) perishability;
(B) strategic or political value, or to regional or global
supply chains;
(C) proportion of the total export value for the exporting
country of the product being exported to a country engaged in
economic coercion;
(D) potential exposure of the product to arbitrary or
excessive regulatory, phytosanitary, or other safety or
inspection requirements; and
(E) reliance of a country on the import of such
commodities, product, or services; and
(5) analyzing and monitoring economic linkages to identify
goods and commodities with respect to which United States
allies and partners may be vulnerable to economic coercion
that is informed by--
(A) current market data;
(B) information, including United States intelligence, on
economic coercion strategies;
(C) relevant data from before, during and after past
instances of economic coercion; and
(D) any other relevant information needed to support
economic analysis and policy recommendations, including
access to information technology systems which integrate and
synthesize economic and related data.
(c) Personnel.--In addition to a qualified professional
Chief Economist, the Secretary of State is authorized to
employ sufficient full-time equivalent individuals to fully
execute the Office of the Chief Economist, including--
(1) a Deputy Chief Economist, who must be a qualified
professional economist;
(2) at least four qualified professional economists at the
GS-15 level;
(3) a Chief Data Officer;
(4) a Chief of Staff;
(5) research economists;
(6) career members of the foreign service, including
program support staff; and
(7) temporary staff, including fellows.
(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized
to be appropriated $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025
through 2029 for the Office for personnel costs, project and
data services, and limited travel funds.
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