WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack
Obama on Saturday urged business owners to press Congress to reauthorize
the U.S. Export-Import Bank, which could halt any new financing Sept. 30
- as some conservative Republicans hope it will - if lawmakers fail to
act.
The little-known institution provides loans to buyers of U.S.
products abroad. Obama said in his weekly radio address that if
Congress lets the bank close, it would be stunting U.S. export
growth and impeding economic expansion.
"If Congress fails to act, thousands of businesses, large and small,
that sell their products abroad will take a completely unnecessary
hit," the president said.
While playing a relatively small role in the U.S. export universe,
the bank has become a political flashpoint. Conservative Republicans
single it out as an unnecessary and potentially risky government
program, while moderates and most Democrats defend it as providing a
useful boost to businesses seeking new markets.
Household names such as Boeing Co, Caterpillar Inc and General
Electric Co are big beneficiaries of the bank's services. Ex-Im
Bank's critics say aiding well-established firms such as those
serves little purpose and puts taxpayers at risk.
Opposition to renewing the bank's charter includes influential
lawmakers such as new House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and House
Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, both
Republicans.
Fueling concerns about the bank's role, Delta Airlines charges that
the institution provides an unfair advantage to foreign competitors
of the U.S. carrier.
"If left to do business as usual, the Bank has proven that it will
continue to help all foreign airlines indiscriminately, including
well-funded and state-supported ones that competitively threaten
U.S. airlines and their employees," Delta Senior Vice President
Andrea Fischer Newman wrote to Hensarling this week.
The airline wants a ban on Ex-Im Bank backing for deals to buy
wide-body aircraft, such as Boeing's 747s. Boeing says that without
Ex-Im Bank financing, airlines around the world would buy Airbus
planes, usually with French or German export credit subsidies.
"The U.S. aerospace industry would lose sales and market share, and
the jobs associated with that lost business would end up in Europe,"
Boeing senior vice president Tim Keating wrote to Hensarling last
week.
The bank's supporters hope that Congress will temporarily renew the
bank's charter in a stopgap government funding bill that must pass
before Sept. 30. That would leave lawmakers more time to craft
legislation that would provide a longer charter extension but
contain reforms to the bank that would mollify critics.
Paul Ryan, the Republican vice presidential candidate in 2012 and
skeptic about the bank, said this week he thinks the bank's charter
will be kept alive with a temporary extension.
(Reporting By Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Ken Wills)
The little-known institution provides loans to buyers of U.S.
products abroad. Obama said in his weekly radio address that if
Congress lets the bank close, it would be stunting U.S. export
growth and impeding economic expansion.
