House Moves on Export-Import Bank

The House passed the Export-Import Bank bill last month in a vote largely along party lines. Thirteen House Republicans voted for the measure. The bill now goes to the Republican-controlled Senate, where the National Review considers it dead on arrival.

Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-MD) urged the Senate to support the Export-Import Bank, which helps US businesses maintain a strong, competitive presence in the global economy, countering aggressive foreign export credit agencies, including three in China alone.

The United States Export Finance Agency Act that passed will:

• Reauthorize the agency for 10 years
• Increase the agency’s lending capacity from $135 billion to $175 billion over a seven-year period
• Ensure that the agency can continue to finance large projects even if the Senate fails to confirm board members
• Provide stronger support for small businesses
• Establish an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion and an Office of Territorial Exporting
• Improve the agency’s ability to respond to China’s predatory export financing practices
• Prohibit financing to bad actors known to the US government
• Promote export of renewable energy technologies.

According to Mr. Hoyer’s office, over the past 10 years, the Export Finance Agency has financed more than $255.2 billion in US exports and supported 1.6 million US jobs in all 50 states at no cost to American taxpayers.

“This bill enjoys the support of the United States Chamber of Commerce, wide support among the business community throughout America, support of the labor movement, the AFL-CIO, and labor unions all over America, and the support of millions of workers who are producing products here in America,” Rep. Hoyer said.

In FY2018, 90.5 percent of the agency authorizations directly supported small businesses, including 315 small businesses that used the agency for the first time.

Over the past 10 years, the agency has generated more than $3.4 billion in deficit reduction.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has said the Senate would rather fund the bank in a broader government spending bill. The White House budget office also said it supports the reauthorization of the Ex-Im bank under other terms, according to the National Review.

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For more information about House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, visit his Leader member page.