Export-Import Bank

Floor Speech

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Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I am delighted to join my colleagues on the floor, Senator Heitkamp, Senator Murray, and Senator Cantwell. I thank them for their leadership in keeping the issue of reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank front and center in this Congress. We are here to celebrate what the House did yesterday in voting overwhelmingly with a bipartisan majority to reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank. The House did what many people have been predicting for months they would do if they could actually get this bill to the floor; that is, pass it with an overwhelmingly bipartisan majority, including a majority of House Republicans.

Why are we so concerned about reauthorizing the Ex-Im Bank? It is because--as Senator Heitkamp said so well--exporting has become increasingly important throughout the country, especially in my home State of New Hampshire and for so many of our small businesses that are looking to stay competitive in this global economy. Ex-Im levels the playing field, and when American companies have a level playing field they can compete and win.

Unfortunately, it has been a small ideological minority of Members of Congress in both the Senate and the House who have kept this legislation from coming to the floor and have kept the Ex-Im Bank shut down. The vote yesterday shows it is time to change that.

Ex-Im provides billions of dollars of money to help American manufacturers reach foreign markets. It has been 4 months now since the Bank's charter expired and we are already starting to see the consequences. Some companies have discussed moving manufacturing from the United States, which means we will lose manufacturing jobs. We are going to start seeing consequences for small businesses as they start losing out on new sales because they are operating at a disadvantage.

Businesses such as Boyle Energy in New Hampshire have gotten support from the Ex-Im Bank. The Bank has supported $314 million in export sales from New Hampshire businesses since 2009. It is time for the Senate to take up this legislation, to pass it, to come together and get this done for our small businesses, for our economy, and for our jobs.

I thank my colleagues, and I yield the floor.

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