Easy Renomination Hearing for Ex-Im Bank President
Senators lauded the efforts of Export-Import Bank President Fred Hochberg at his Senate Banking Committee renomination hearing May 7, as Hochberg stressed his small business record and countered claims that Ex-Im provides corporate welfare to select American companies. Ex-Im loans largely go to the customers of U.S. companies, customers choosing between the U.S. and countries like India or China -- which provide their own export financing, Hochberg said. When U.S. businesses are going “toe to toe” with competitors, “We can’t unilaterally disarm,” he said.
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Ex-Im has been hit with similar criticism in the past. In April, a conservative free market group urged Senators to oppose Hochberg’s renomination (see 13040513). Taxpayers Protection Alliance President David Williams said the Bank has a preference for Boeing which hurts other American companies and their employees. “American taxpayers are subsidizing a regime that puts American companies at a competitive disadvantage,” Williams said in a statement (here). Delta Airlines filed suit against the Bank in April, claiming Ex-Im loans hurt the company (see 13040523).
Hochberg told Committee members the Bank completes an economic feasibility study before each loan, analyzing how it will affect domestic industry. “We want to make sure we’re about U.S. jobs,” he said. “We’re about creating, supporting and sustaining U.S. jobs.” Both Hochberg and Committee members touted the Bank’s recent stats: Ex-Im financing supported 225,000 jobs in fiscal year 2012, Hochberg said. The Bank has made nearly $1.6 billion in profits since 2008, said Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-S.D. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who introduced Hochberg at the hearing, said the Bank approved $6 million in financing and insurance for small businesses in 2012, a new record. Hochberg, who began his career in the federal government at the Small Business Administration under President Clinton's administration, has been President of Ex-Im since 2009.