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 Legislation backed by Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer and colleagues
Maxine Waters, Gwen Moore and Denny Heck would reauthorize Ex-Im,
which provides support for U.S. exporters and the buyers of U.S.
goods, until 2022 and increase its lending cap by $20 billion.
Prominent Ex-Im opponent Jen Hensarling, a Republican, urged
lawmakers to consider closing the bank down in a plea timed to
coincide with a major push by the business community to ensure the
bank's survival.
More than 600 small to mid-sized exporters, manufacturers and
business representatives from 41 states will descend on Capitol Hill
on Wednesday to ask for Ex-Im's mandate to be extended past the
current June 30 expiry date.
"Bipartisan majorities in both the House of Representatives and the
Senate support renewing the Export-Import Bank’s charter, and I am
confident that Democrats and Republicans will reach consensus to
keep the Bank alive," said Waters, the top Democrat on the House
Financial Services Committee.
Hensarling, who chairs the committee with jurisdiction over the
bank, said Ex-Im used taxpayer funds to help finance select U.S.
exports at the expense of others.
"The best way to level the playing field for American exporters and
manufacturers is not with taxpayer subsidies, guarantees and
politically-driven lending, but instead with more opportunity," he
wrote in a letter he will send to fellow lawmakers that was seen by
Reuters.
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If Congress does not vote to extend the bank's charter, it will
close at the end of June. Hensarling and other critics charge that
Ex-Im's support for overseas buyers of U.S. goods, such as Boeing Co
planes, gives those foreign firms an edge over U.S. competitors.
Republican Stephen Fincher unveiled a bill in January, backed by 57
fellow Republicans, which would give the bank five more years but
also cut its lending cap to $130 billion from $140 billion.
(Reporting by Krista Hughes; editing by Andrew Hay)
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