ISRI joined a coalition of more than 800 companies and associations in late June in writing to Congress in support of reauthorizing the Export/Import Bank – a lending agency established under a 1934 executive order from President Franklin Roosevelt as part of his desire to expand trade with the newly established Soviet Union and Cuba.
ISRI joined a coalition of more than 800 companies and associations in late June in writing to Congress in support of reauthorizing the Export/Import Bank – a lending agency established under a 1934 executive order from President Franklin Roosevelt as part of his desire to expand trade with the newly established Soviet Union and Cuba. The bank became an independent entity in 1945. The bank was originally designed to help deal with unfair competition in the marketplace and that for a long time it provided equity to U.S. manufacturers by providing direct loans, guarantees, and credit insurance to aid foreign purchasers in buying American-made goods. Its charter expires at the end of September unless Congress acts to renew it. The Bank is the official export agency of the U.S. and its mission is to "assist in financing the export of U.S. goods and services to international markets."
The Ex-Im Bank has been deeply involved in historically significant projects and transactions, including the constructions of the Pan-American Highway and Burma Road. Essentially, the Ex-Im Bank assists U.S. companies in their exports to provide them with an advantage against foreign companies, particularly if those foreign companies receive their own subsidies from their governments. The Ex-Im Bank was responsible for supporting up to 1.2 million jobs over the past five years. In 2013 alone, that number was 205,000. (The bank employs fewer than 500 people.) The Bank provided $27 billion to support an estimated $37.4 billion in U.S. export sales in fiscal year 2013 and has returned $1.6 billion back to the U.S. Treasury since 2008 in excess revenue.
Its reauthorization throughout history has not been controversial. Fourteen of the 16 times its reauthorization has come up for a vote, it has passed by either unanimous consent or voice vote in at least one chamber of Congress. But over the last two years, the Bank has come under increasingly intense scrutiny because opponents have latched on to the cause the bank provides "corporate welfare." The House of Representatives has held several contentious hearings and has only a limited amount of time to act before the charter expires. For more information about ISRI’s role in supporting the reauthorization of the Ex-Im Bank, please contact Billy Johnson.