Wayne Chambers: Reauthorize Ex-Im Bank

The Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce’s mission is to drive economic growth and community advancement in the Wichita region. This means helping companies of all sizes around Wichita grow. When they grow, they hire more employees and the entire Kansas economy benefits.

That’s the primary reason the chamber supports Congress’ reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. If Congress doesn’t act and reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank by Sept. 30, the bank will close and put important good-paying jobs in Kansas at risk.

Since 1934, the Ex-Im Bank has played a critical role in assisting our economy. While the bank was created to support exports and imports, its current focus is on supporting exports by providing working-capital guarantees (pre-export financing), export credit insurance, loan guarantees and direct loans (buyer financing). In Kansas, the Ex-Im Bank has helped about 65 businesses – large and small – export products abroad and in turn sustain the Kansas and Wichita economies.

These are companies in our backyard, such as Cargill, CNH Industrial, Learjet, Beechcraft and Cessna (Textron Aviation). The bank also helps other businesses that don’t directly export, such as Spirit AeroSystems, Clearwater Engineering, McGinty Machine and many other suppliers that would be adversely affected if the bank closed.

In total, the Ex-Im Bank has helped support about $1 billion of exports from Kansas since 2007 and about 6,000 jobs.

Across the country, the Ex-Im Bank has helped thousands of businesses of all sizes export products to foreign markets. Many of those products are stamped with the proud words “Made in the USA.” Critics of the bank say it only benefits a few large companies. Actually, it has helped thousands of small businesses grow and enter new economies, particularly fast-growing economies such as those in China and Brazil. Since 2008, more than 85 percent of transactions have been for small business.

There are no clear alternatives if the Ex-Im Bank isn’t reauthorized by Congress and ceases to operate. What happens if our companies stop selling abroad, and they or the companies that supply them have to lay off employees or shut down altogether?

We know that Ex-Im is critical to U.S. competitiveness, as other countries provide substantial support for their exporters; there are at least 59 foreign export credit agencies around the world. Those export credit agencies work aggressively, often hand in hand with the government, to support domestic industries. European and Asian governments provide several times more financing to their countries’ exporters, and they are not likely to stop if Ex-Im goes away. Unilateral disarmament will hurt U.S. exports and place a large number of American jobs in jeopardy. Additionally, last year the Ex-Im Bank returned about $1 billion to the Treasury Department, mostly through fees collected from foreign customers.

Ex-Im helps support jobs and plays a crucial role in the U.S. economy, and does so without costing taxpayers money. That’s why the chamber supports reauthorization of the Ex-Im Bank and urges our congressional representatives to reauthorize the bank before Sept. 30.

This story was originally published September 9, 2014 at 7:03 PM with the headline "Wayne Chambers: Reauthorize Ex-Im Bank."