Exporters Hopeful for More Acceptable Ex-Im Renewal Bill
There is no Export-Import Bank legislation currently in play that the export community is able to rally behind with complete support, said John Hardy, president of the Coalition for Employment through Exports at a July 22 roundtable discussion hosted by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). The bank's charter is set to expire on Sept. 30 and the business community is hoping to see a more palatable bill introduced in the next week, said Hardy. Senate Banking Committee member Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., recently released a draft bill to reauthorize the credit agency, though it's unclear how much that bill will change before it's introduced. Two House bills on reauthorization have also been released in recent weeks (see 14071107).
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Especially unattractive to exporters is draft legislation released by House Financial Services Subcommittee on Monetary Policy and Trade Chairman John Campbell, R-Calif., that would decrease the credit agency’s financial authority and mandate other structural changes, said Hardy. “The Campbell bill has a number of provisions that would be fundamentally very unhelpful,” he said. “The business community cannot support a bill like that. It would cripple the bank.” Campbell released the legislation text “solely for the purpose of discussion,” he said in a press release (here). The two other bills floated, both introduced by Democrats, increase the bank's financial authority incrementally.
Meanwhile, the export community is continuing to lobby Capitol Hill lawmakers on the merits of the credit agency, according to testimony from business leaders at the roundtable. “Through the associations like NAM and [General Aviation Manufacturers Association], we’re working on the Hill trying to identify the ears that will listen and reach out and try to portray this message to those folks that this is for small business in the U.S. that want to grow their companies through exports,” said Jim Hirsch, president of the Texas-based company Air Tractor. Hirsch said he intended to meet with Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, on July 22. Sen. Cornyn’s office did not respond for comment.
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, remains a fierce critic of the bank. The bank is in the jurisdiction of his committee so reauthorization legislation will likely have to pass through it. Air Tractor Financial Analyst Tyler Schroeder said the company has tried to speak with Hensarling on a number of occasions, but have always been rebuffed. “He knows what we have to say,” said Schroeder at the roundtable. “He knows where we stand and the reaction that we’ve gotten from his staffers is just pretty close-minded. They’ll give you the head and ‘yeah we understand where you’re coming from’ but he’s pretty set on this.” The bank has supported $6 billion in Texas exports from 2013-14 (here), it said. Air Tractor will be nearly unable to export at all if the bank’s charter lapses even for a small amount of time, said Schroeder.
The business leaders emphasized that they are still committed to simply telling lawmakers about the bank’s positive impacts in order to convince enough votes in favor, said Hardy and other business leaders. “Underlying this is a very core reality in terms of the value of the bank to both small and large exporters, small and large companies. And that’s gotten totally lost in a lot of the rhetoric,” said Hardy. “If we can get that message out, the reauthorization is going to take care of itself and so there has been a major push because, as you know, some of the anti-bank folks basically said ‘small business is simply a ruse here.’ But the reality is its 89 percent of the transactions [that] go to small and medium sized companies.”
Currently, more than 200 House Democrats, along with at least 40 House Republicans have voiced general support for reauthorization (see 14062405). That level of support is more than sufficient to pass a House reauthorization bill if all those lawmakers vote in favor. -- Brian Dabbs