The mission of the Department is to create the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Commerce, US Department of US executive department that promotes economic development and technological advancement through activities that encourage and assist states, regions, communities, industries and firms. Its agencies include the Bureau of the Census, Office of Business Economics, Patent Office and National Bureau of Standards. It was founded in 1903 as the Department of Commerce and Labor, and became a separate department in 1913. The role of the Commerce Department limefx to promote trade and U.S. economic and technological advancement has evolved and grown as the needs of the national economy have changed.
Offices of the NOAA include the National Weather Service; the National Marine Fisheries Service; the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service; the National Ocean Service; and the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. Commerce provides the research which is critical to maintaining a stable economy. For example, if last quarter’s GDP is revised downward, Wall Street investors may turn bearish because they anticipate a further decline in growth.
- The Department serves as the voice of business in the Federal Government, and at the same time, the Department touches and serves every American every day.
- The DOC took on the role of promoting tourism starting in the 1960s, and in the late twentieth century drastically improved its statistical information on the economy as a resource for commerce, reflecting the increasingly complicated and sophisticated needs of a global economy.
- Originally part of the Department of Commerce and Labor, which was created in 1903, the Department of Commerce was established as a separate entity by law on March 4, 1913 (U.S.C.A. § 1501).
- In 1888, President Chester Arthur established the non-Cabinet level Department of Labor, which was intended to collect information about working people in the United States.
- The secretary of commerce sits on the president’s cabinet along with the secretaries of the 13 other executive agencies of the federal government and other selected executive officials.
Mission Statement
The DOC took on the role of promoting tourism starting in the 1960s, and in the late twentieth century drastically improved its statistical information on the economy as a resource for commerce, reflecting the increasingly complicated and sophisticated needs of a global economy. With the growing emphasis on diversity and issues pertaining to women and minorities, the DOC stepped up its activities on behalf of those groups. The Technology Administration helps businesses to develop technology that will increase their competitiveness in the marketplace. The office also manages the National Medal of Technology Program, the president’s highest technology award. The Department of Commerce’s mission is to create the conditions for economic growth and opportunity for all communities.
It develops trade and statistical research programs to assist the tourism industry, and aids small- and medium-sized travel and tourist businesses. It operates regional offices in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Mexico City, Milan, Paris, Sydney, Tokyo, and Toronto, as well as a Miami office that services South American markets. Originally part of the Department of Commerce and Labor, which was created in 1903, the Department of Commerce was established as a separate entity by law on March 4, 1913 (U.S.C.A. § 1501). The secretary of commerce sits on the president’s cabinet along with the secretaries of the 13 other executive agencies of the federal government and other selected executive officials.
Spurred by the President, once again Congress considered a proposal for a Department of Commerce. When the debate in Congress concluded, the advocates of a Department of Commerce agreed to a compromise with those seeking a Cabinet voice for labor. For the first time in the Nation’s history, a vote was scheduled on the creation of a new executive department with a dual title, the Department of Commerce and Labor. Even when the Twelfth Census in 1900 showed that the aggregate value of manufacturing products of the United States exceeded $13 billion, approximately four times the value of all the products of agriculture, Congress did not respond to the pleas of business for a Cabinet agency for commerce and industry. The Navy Department was created on April 30, 1798, because of the impending war with France.
The NTIS Bibliographic Database is available on CD-ROM or online through commercial vendors. The Technology Administration produces the Federal Research in Progress Database, a summary listing of 140,000 federally funded research projects in progress. The NTIS also licenses governmentowned inventions, operates the FedWorld computer system, and makes available a major Japanese on-line information system. The NTIS is a self-supporting agency, collecting its revenues through sales of its research products.
At the end of the 1890s, with the assistance of President William McKinley’s “Open Door” policy of actively promoting exports, the value of American manufactured goods sold abroad had almost tripled, and total foreign commerce had passed the $1 billion mark as exports exceeded imports for the first time. The secretary of commerce, who heads the department of that name, is appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate and is a member of the president’s cabinet. Among those who have served as Commerce secretary are such well-known personalities as Herbert Hoover, Harry Hopkins, Henry Wallace, Averell Harriman, Elliot Richardson, and Ron Brown. Formerly the Office of Minority Business Enterprise, the Minority Business Development Agency was established in 1979. The agency operates a network of six regional offices and four district offices that provide technical and managerial assistance to business owners and entrepreneurs. The Bureau of Export Administration, with its offices of Export Administration and of Export Enforcement, directs the nation’s export control policy, including the processing of export license applications.
As part of the Obama administration’s economic team, the Secretary of Commerce serves as the voice of U.S. business within the President’s Cabinet. The Department works with businesses, universities, communities, and the Nation’s workers to promote job creation, economic growth, sustainable development, and improved standards of living for Americans. Through its 12 bureaus and nearly 47,000 employees located in all 50 states and territories and more than 86 countries worldwide, the Department administers critical programs that touch the lives of every American. It is made of up economists, Nobel winning scientists, foreign service officers, patent attorneys, law enforcement officers, and specialists in everything from international trade to aerospace engineering.
Commerce history
Although the activities of the Department of Commerce are not always prominent in the American consciousness, the department’s efforts in administering economic programs have a major effect on the average citizen. Bush, the Department of Commerce has administered a number of programs designed to enhance economic growth and to stimulate economic progress in the wake of a recession. As the need for ever-expanding markets for manufactures intensified and workers moved from farm to factory in greater numbers, labor brought increasing pressure for separation of the Department’s functions and independent Cabinet status. President William Taft signed legislation on March 4, 1913, his last day in office, splitting the combined department. Labor was given Cabinet status and the designation of the Department of Commerce and Labor was changed to the Department of Commerce.
How It Affects the U.S. Economy
President Theodore Roosevelt believed that business and labor should work together; so, as pressure for a Department of Commerce grew, he used the opportunity to elevate Labor to Cabinet status as well. Pressure from the labor movement, which felt that business and labor were working in opposition, led to the split of the two departments in 1913. U.S. labor leaders began lobbying for a Department of Labor in the late 1860s, after the Civil War.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) was formed in 1978. It is responsible for advising the president on telecommunications policy; developing and presenting national plans at international communications conferences; managing federal use of the radio frequency spectrum; and administering the National Endowment for Children’s Educational Television. The Department of Commerce (DOC) is the cabinet department in the U.S. government that deals with business, trade, and commerce to ensure economic vitality. The Department of Commerce is run by the secretary of commerce, a presidential cabinet post confirmed by the Senate.
Bureau of Export Administration
The Department of Commerce, which was established in 1903, is one of the main government agencies intended to assist businesses—large and small—and represent their interests domestically and abroad. The department promotes these goals by encouraging job creation and economic growth through exports, free and fair trade, technology and innovation, entrepreneurship, deregulation, and sustainable development. The Department of Commerce (DOC) is a Cabinet-level executive department of the U.S. government that is dedicated to promoting economic growth. The department works to create jobs through sustainable development, economic growth, favorable international trade terms, and the accessibility of high technology.
It assesses whether export controls should be imposed upon specific products, with particular regard for the potential danger to U.S. national security that may result if the products are exported. This office works with U.S. allies to advocate for better ways of controlling strategic exports. Export Enforcement investigates violations of export-control laws, including possible diversions of exports to countries that are forbidden to receive particular products. The Economics and Statistics Administration, supervised by the undersecretary for economic affairs, advises the president on economic developments and macroeconomic and microeconomic policy. It also makes economic forecasts and presents current economic data to the public through the National Trade Data Bank and the Economic Bulletin Board.
Commerce is the agency that manages the National Weather Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Foreign Commercial Service. It also oversees ocean and coastal navigation and negotiates bilateral trade agreements. The Secretaries of these departments and the Attorney General, who had been appointed under the act of September 24, 1789, became members of the first Cabinet. The underlying strength of the Department is the ability for its bureaus to work together and leverage expertise in all of these goal areas to drive economic growth. In 2012, President Barack Obama proposed in his State of the Union address that the Commerce Department be etoro replaced by a new department dedicated to the promotion of trade and exports. That was included in his proposed budget that year, and in each year for the balance of his administration, without success.