[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 124 (Wednesday, September 17, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H7369]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   SUPPORTING THE EXPORT-IMPORT BANK

  (Mr. MENENDEZ asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, our first job in Congress must always be 
to do everything we can to defend and create American jobs. Yet the 
charter of one of the strongest tools in our job creating arsenal, the 
Export-Import Bank, runs out on September 30. Why should we care? We 
should care because European-based Airbus, which receives substantial 
export support from France, Germany, and Britain, is as we speak trying 
to steal international clients from American-based Boeing.
  Airbus is openly telling Boeing's customers that congressional 
inaction is evidence they can no longer rely on the U.S. Export-Import 
Bank to keep providing the backing for their transactions. Boeing has 
thousands of suppliers spread across the country, 72 of them in my home 
State of New Jersey. Each one of those suppliers supports families and 
homes and school tuition for hard working Americans.
  I am here today with my distinguished colleague the gentleman from 
Illinois [Mr. Hastert], the chief deputy Republican whip, because this 
is not a partisan issue, it is an American issue, it is a jobs issue. 
For these reasons, it is an issue that should move to the top of the 
agenda and on to the House floor.

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