Thursday, July 2, 2015

[COMMENTARY] Export-Import Bank needs resurrecting by Congress by U.S. Rep. Ruben Hinojosa, D-McAllen

U.S. Rep. Ruben Hinojosa, D-McAllen
The Export-Import Bank charter expired this week due to continued dysfunction and the misplaced priorities of the Republican majority in control of Congress who often sound like a broken record with their constant refrain of being the business-friendly party. Inexplicably, they just let the music stop on a crucial export financing source supporting home-grown businesses and their employees working hard to export American-made goods overseas.
For the first time since it was created 81 years ago, the Ex-Im Bank charter was allowed to expire at midnight on July 1. Inaction by Congress to renew he charter leaves thousands of small businesses without resources they need to export commodities to international customers. Continued inaction would be devastating to small exporters and entrepreneurs, in particular, who are looking to grow their businesses. The bank is particularly important because it gives them an edge by leveling the playing field between small firms and their larger counterparts. In fact, nearly 90 percent of the Ex-Im Bank’s transactions in 2013 were for American small businesses.
Still, congressional Republicans allowed their extreme, ideological-driven wing to adjourn without taking action, even though the Bank is a resounding market-driven success — sustaining 1.5 million jobs since 2007 at no cost to taxpayers, supporting hundreds of thousands of American manufacturing jobs and always enjoying the support of a bipartisan majority of Congress.
That was up until now.
Congress’ failing to renew the bank’s charter not only endangers small business financing but also surrenders jobs in the United States to our foreign competitors. With more than $34 billion in exports lost this year alone, tens of thousands of workers engaged in the exporting business could be laid off and thousands of exporters — mostly small business owners — including 730 in Texas, would incur a substantial financial loss, as will the suppliers who make or grow the products being exported.
In fact, Dr. Zhao Changhui, chief risk analyst for the Export-Import Bank of China, recently told a business forum in China that while he would regret the possible demise of the bank’s U.S. counterpart, it would help China’s competitiveness: “With respect to competition in strategy and policies between the U.S. and China, this is a good thing (for China),” he said.

But Republicans have dedicated their majority to a partisan, ideological agenda to the detriment of common sense and hard-working Americans who are in need of bigger paychecks and better jobs. In response, Democrats have advocated legislation to reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank’s charter four times in recent months but were blocked each time by House Republicans.

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