He’s argued that its more than $100 billion in financing authority makes the bank a fund for corporate cronyism, pointing out that Boeing — which battles Europe’s Airbus for overseas sales — is among Ex-Im’s primary beneficiaries.
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“Ex-Im…is a critical tool in the bipartisan trade agenda that helps USA businesses succeed in global markets and grow their exports”, a press release from the White House encouraging its renewal states.
It was set to expire on Tuesday at midnight without a vote.
The bank assists American companies in selling their goods overseas by making loans and loan guarantees for the companies’ foreign customers.
Last week, in a last-gap effort to persuade opponents, ExIm chairman Fred Hochberg warned that drying up export credit for small businesses would mean “opening our economy up to death by a thousand cuts” – and giving China the upper hand.
The bank was established in 1934 and has been reauthorized 16 times under 13 different US Presidents. The bank’s supporters are hoping that they can attach some legislative language to force the bank to pass a transportation funding bill in July and then dare the opponents from the House to reject it. The bank also makes direct loans and provides export credit insurance to protect against losses to companies from non-repayment of loans.
“This is an agency that has been putting money into the US Treasury and supporting jobs”, Cantwell said.
Supporters say huge deals are at risk without the Export-Import Bank, which has been renewed in the past with small to no controversy.
“It must be frustrating for Democrats to find themselves defending corporate welfare at the behest of big unions and big businesses, but the expiration of the bank was intentional”, Holler said.
“People like McCarthy, Ryan (Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin), they create a blockage”, Cantwell said.
Orlin Reinbold, owner of Landmark Turf & Native Seed, 4808 S. Hayford Road, said his company exports $10 million worth of products to 15 to 20 countries.
“There are enough votes in both the Senate and House to renew, if we can get a vote”, Cantwell told SeattlePI.com.
DeLauro added that the bank doesn’t cost anything and generated a $675 million surplus for taxpayers. Over the past year it has also become a surprising test of GOP purity, as tea party-backed lawmakers and outside conservative groups denounced the bank as crony capitalism and vowed to get rid of it, pressuring fellow Republicans to go along.
“It’s unfortunate that the Republican leadership has chosen fit to frankly give in to one of its most conservative members who just believes simply that government ought not to help, notwithstanding the fact that those nations with whom we compete and businesses we compete with around the world are getting such help”, Hoyer said.
Hensarling says he instead favors scaling back regulation and tax reform to help small businesses.
There are sufficient votes in the United States Senate for supporters to save the U.S. Export-Import Bank, and they will get an opportunity to do so, Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell stated on June 29, according to RFE/RL.
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Caterpillar said in a statement that reinstating the trade bank was a top priority and it would continue to work on Ex-Im-supported transactions so those customer transactions could proceed “as soon as the bank is renewed”.
