Reauthorize the Export-Import Bank

Floor Speech

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Mr. HECK of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank that begins this discussion.

I yield to the gentleman and my friend and a passionate advocate on behalf of the Export-Import Bank, Congressman Cárdenas from the 29th District of California.

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Mr. HECK of Washington. When someone in America builds a better mousetrap or improves upon the design of an existing product, the world takes notice. Companies, governments, and industries in countries from South Africa to Turkey and in between are potential customers for well-crafted, American-made products.

But in the modern-day globalized economy, credit is necessary for complex transactions. Buyers and sellers need assurance that the deals are legitimate. Without that, they are forced to imitate products, violate intellectual property rights and standards, and American companies lose out on market share.

For 80 years, our economy has expanded and grown beyond our borders and into the developed and developing world, in part because of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. Today, with U.S. trade deficits growing as exports fall, we need now more than ever to be able to support increases in exports.

Exports accelerate our economic growth, and the Export-Import Bank is a key part in encouraging just that activity. Increased exports translate into more jobs in America. Studies have shown that export-related jobs pay, on average, 15 to 18 percent more than the overall average. They are better-paying jobs.

Finally, with 95 percent of the potential customers of U.S. goods and services living outside our borders, exporting provides vast potential for American businesses, large and small.

Ninety-five percent of the world lives outside our borders, and the rest of the world is growing a middle class. So think of it this way. If we want to keep and grow our middle class, we better be selling into the rest of the world's growing middle class.

This is not, and has never been, about picking winners and losers. The Export-Import Bank simply serves to bridge the gap between those who want American goods and services and Americans that have goods and services to sell. It is about leveling the playing field so that small operators have access to a global market of customers equal to that of large corporations.

For example, the Bank's export credit insurance policy provides payment coverage for commercial risks such as buyer default and political risk from war or unrest. The insurance also ensures that businesses no longer have to forego sales because they cannot match the credit terms offered by global competitors. This is what we are talking about when we say it levels the playing field.

There is no other private lender currently offering what the Export-Import Bank provides American businesses. For example, 89 percent of the bank's transactions directly benefit U.S. small businesses. That doesn't even include the small businesses that make up the supply chain of the larger companies whose goods are purchased from foreign entities.

If you want more information on this, the very best place to get it is at the Export-Import Bank's own Web site, www.exim.gov. Look up the businesses in your area that have benefited from the Export-Import Bank.

As was mentioned earlier, lo and behold, we actually even make money off the Export-Import Bank. Last year alone, over a billion dollars transferred to the U.S. Treasury off the profits of the Export-Import Bank. As a matter of fact, in the 80 years of its existence, quite literally not one red penny of American taxpayer dollars has ever been used in support of the Ex-Im. Not one red penny. It lowers the deficit and does not use taxpayer dollars.

As I mentioned, it is small companies. Take a company like Pexco, which is located in the 10th Congressional District in Fife, Washington. They produce traffic control products you see on the road when repairs are being made, like traffic cones, raised curbs, reflective signs, and barricades indicating where the road is blocked off. They are used all over the world.

In fact, just recently, a distributor from Denmark purchased $125,000 worth of Pexco products, which was financed by the Export-Import Bank. No commercial bank would have touched that transaction. But it guaranteed the products would reach Denmark. They were done reliably because of the Export-Import Bank.

In fact, in this individual company's instance, which is not atypical of their sales--and they are a small company of 200 employees--over half is sold internationally. Ten percent of total sales are financed by the Export-Import Bank.

So what is the result? The residents of Fife, Washington, are put to work producing their popular products in traffic safety all over the world.

I mentioned it was FDR that actually created the Export-Import Bank 80 years ago, and although it was actually initiated and created by a Democratic administration, the support of it has always been strongly bipartisan.

Republican Presidents such as Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush supported the mission of the Ex-Im Bank, as did Bill Clinton. All these Presidents were staunch supporters of capitalism and the Ex-Im Bank.

Listen to what President Reagan said when he signed the reauthorization, which was a bill that was reauthorized almost unanimously, in 1986:

This sends an important signal to both our exporting community and foreign suppliers that American exporters will continue to able to compete vigorously for business throughout the world.

Perhaps an even more conservative voice, former Vice President Cheney, said in 1997:

Some of my fellow conservatives on the Hill may have a philosophical problem with the fact that the bank is a government agency, but if they consider the success of its lending programs, it would be difficult for them to object on budgetary grounds.

For every dollar put into Ex-Im, Cheney said, ``there's been a $20 return to the U.S. economy.''

And again, the same speech, Vice President Cheney said:

Ex-Im Bank is remarkably effective at helping create jobs, opportunities for trade, stable democracies, and vibrant economies throughout the world. The Bank has made a tremendous contribution as a rapid response, service-oriented agency designed to meet the export financing needs of American businesses.

Indeed, the Bank has been reauthorized a number of times throughout its history--almost always unanimously, until of late--each time making it more effective for the economic climate of the time.

So let's have a conversation about how to make it better. Let's have a conversation on how to get the word out to businesses that they have yet to tap into their potential global markets. Let's talk about how to get our economy running and get ahead of our global competitors.

Let's remember, as Congressman Cárdenas alluded to, every single developed entity in the world has an Ex-Im Bank-like entity, and if we do not reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank, it is the equivalent of and tantamount to unilateral disarmament in a global economy--one in which global trade has increased fivefold just since 1980.

What is the Export-Import Bank about? It is about jobs, jobs, jobs. Yes, 200,000 last year, but over a million in the last 4 years.

Every month we spend debating the merits of the Export-Import Bank instead of encouraging companies to explore the world market, the economy loses billions of dollars in potential export opportunities. The jobs, especially in manufacturing, stagnate. People remain unemployed when they want to work.

As a member of the House Financial Services Committee, I am encouraging, I am urging, I am beseeching, I am pleading with the chair to hold hearings as soon as possible on reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank. We have been waiting 15 months for something to happen. And it is time to move forward.

Let us be clear-eyed and cold-blooded about what the cost is of not doing anything. At a recent roundtable of businesses who had been involved with the Export-Import Bank there was a gentleman present from a company in California. I believe his name was Steve Wilburn and the company was named FirmGreen.

Literally, in the course of the conversation he raise his hand and he said, I just lost a multimillion-dollar order of sales, and I am told the reason I lost it is that our competitor manufacturer, which was in another country, persuaded the purchaser that the cloud hanging over reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank may mean it will not be there when you need it. We lost millions in sales because Congress dithered.

Ladies and gentlemen, at the end of the day, this is the most straightforward imaginable proposition. This is about shoring up, strengthening, supporting the manufacturing sector of the American economy and creating good-paying jobs.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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