Business groups urge House support for Export-Import Bank

Two powerful business groups are pressing House lawmakers to support a reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank.

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and U.S. Chamber of Commerce issued key-vote letters on legislation offered by Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.) that would renew the bank’s charter, which expired in July.

{mosads}“The Ex-Im Bank is one of the only tools domestic manufacturers have to counter the hundreds of billions of dollars of export financing that foreign governments offer to their exporters,” said Aric Newhouse, senior vice president for policy and government relations at NAM.

A vote is expected next week. 

A group of House conservatives succeeded this summer in halting a renewal of the bank’s charter. But since then, there has been a concerted effort from some Republicans and a majority of Democrats to bring the bank back online.

The two business groups are asking House lawmakers to support a discharge petition, the underlying Ex-Im renewal bill and all procedural motions for their respective voting scorecards. 

“Failure to secure a long-term reauthorization of Ex-Im would amount to unilateral disarmament in the face of other governments’ far more aggressive export credit programs, which have provided their own exporters with significant financing support in recent years,” said R. Bruce Josten, the Chamber’s executive vice president for government affairs.

Last year, Ex-Im provided financing or guarantees for $27.5 billion in U.S. exports, supporting more than 164,000 U.S. jobs at 3,300 companies, the groups said. 

On top of that, the bank’s default rate has consistently been less than 2 percent since its founding in 1934, they wrote.

“Not only has Ex-Im directly supported American jobs, it operates at no cost to the U.S. taxpayer,” Josten said.

“Over the past 20 years, Ex-Im has generated $7 billion in revenue above its operating costs and returned these funds to the U.S. Treasury.”