[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 68 (Monday, May 14, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3123-S3124]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  EXPORT-IMPORT BANK REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2012--MOTION TO PROCEED--
                               Continued

  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Madam President, I rise to discuss the Export-
Import Bank reauthorization's importance to strengthen manufacturing 
and creating jobs in places such as my home State of Ohio.
  Ohio is the third leading manufacturing State in the country. Only 
Texas, which has twice our population, and California, which has three 
times our population, produce more goods than we do.
  The Export-Import Bank's mission is simple: It facilitates exports 
and contributes to job creation in the United States. It does this 
through loans and guarantees of insurance, filling in gaps in trade 
financing at no ultimate cost to taxpayers. Yet, despite this record of 
success, exports and jobs are at stake because Congress cannot agree to 
Ex-Im reauthorization, in large part because there is a group of people 
in this body and down the hall in the House of Representatives who 
simply think the Federal Government should not have a role in much of 
anything.
  The bank's lending authority is set to expire May 31, 17 days from 
now. We must act. The Export-Import Bank has been reauthorized by both 
Chambers, by both parties, decade after decade, and we know how 
important it is for job creation, but it has taken too long to get this 
reauthorization moving. While manufacturers wait, Congress has stalled. 
We cannot wait any longer.
  We know that Ohio workers can compete with anyone in the world when 
the playing field is level. When we stamp the ``Made in Ohio'' label, 
it is a sign that an item was made with pride by some of the finest 
workers in the United States and some of the finest workers in our 
country.
  We know that U.S. manufacturing is getting stronger due in no small 
part to increased exports with the help of the Ex-Im Bank. Ohio has had 
quicker increases in job growth than other States.
  We know that the manufacturing sector nationally has gained back some 
number of jobs that it lost. As an example, from 1965 to 1998 or 1999, 
this country had roughly the same number of manufacturing jobs. It was 
a smaller percentage of GDP and a smaller percentage of the workforce 
but a pretty constant similar number of jobs in 1999 as we had in 1965. 
But in the decade after 1999, we lost between 3 and 4 million 
manufacturing jobs in this country.
  Since 2010, almost every single month we have seen manufacturing jobs 
increase in Ohio, in the Presiding Officer's home State of North 
Carolina, and in State after State in this country. That is good, 
obviously, but too many people in my State are still out of work or 
underemployed. What will happen to Ohio workers in our growing 
manufacturing sector if we fail do what we should be doing here, if we 
fail to fund this critical resource?
  Ohio's manufacturers have been able to increase their exports with 
the assistance and the assurance that the Ex-Im Bank provides. In 
Fremont, OH, workers at Crown Battery, an employee-owned company, make 
renewable energy systems. With the help of the Ex-Im Bank's short-term, 
multibuyer insurance policy, about $400,000 worth of Crown Battery's 
storage battery manufacturing equipment was exported to South Africa. 
Middletown Tube Works in Butler County in southwest Ohio exports 
tubular steel to Spain and Portugal with less risk because of the Ex-Im 
Bank. Before that support, Nook Industries in Cuyahoga County required 
international customers to pay cash in advance of every order, which is 
an average of 4- to 6-weeks. Now Nook Industries has major customers in 
places such as China, South Korea, and Israel because of Ex-Im Bank 
support.
  Exporting is especially tough for small businesses. Large businesses 
need this less than the small company that makes things, that 
manufactures things. Less than 1 percent of the Nation's nearly 26 
million small businesses export their products. Imagine if we can 
increase that only a little bit in percentage terms.
  One of the most important resources to help small and medium-sized 
businesses--especially those that make things--boost their exports is 
the Ex-Im Bank. That is why the Ohio Manufacturers Association strongly 
supports its reauthorization. They said:

       The Ex-Im Bank is the only tool that American manufacturers 
     have to counter the huge sums of export financing--many 
     hundreds of millions of dollars--that other countries and 
     other governments provide their exporters.

  Tom Buffenbarger, president of the International Association of 
Machinists, told the Senate Banking Committee:

       America's working families struggle in today's difficult 
     economy [and] have little patience for Beltway politics that 
     continue to stall a proven instrument of export growth and 
     job creation.

  I hear from the head of the Ohio Manufacturers Association and I hear 
from small business owners who want to expand and gain access to 
foreign

[[Page S3124]]

markets but can't secure private financing due to the credit risk 
associated with some overseas investments.
  Export-supported jobs linked to the manufacturing sector already 
account for an estimated 7 percent of our total private sector 
employment. More than one-fourth of the manufacturing jobs in Ohio 
depend on exports for their jobs.
  In 2011 the bank worked with nearly 100 Ohio businesses to support 
more than $400 million in export sales. To renew the Bank's charter 
should be a cause that all Senators support just like the 25 times that 
the Senate unanimously reauthorized the agency since its establishment 
almost 80 years ago. It is a matter of American jobs and a matter of 
global competitiveness.
  Some people who seem to oppose everything the Federal Government 
wants to do because of this philosophy that the Federal Government 
never does anything of use--forgetting Medicare, Social Security, clean 
drinking water, all that--even though the Senate has reauthorized this 
program 25 times, they are standing in the way and blocking it.
  We faced a trade deficit with China of almost $300 billion in 2011, 
meaning that we imported about $800 million a day more than we exported 
to China. We know that China's export-import and development banks 
provide as much as $100 billion in export credits each year. That is 
more than three times as many new export credits as our U.S. Export-
Import Bank.
  It is time we continue fighting for and investing in American 
manufacturing. It is so important, like we do so well in Ohio, that we 
make things. It creates wealth, it creates a strong middle class, and 
it creates opportunity for our young people. It is time to end the 
delay and reauthorize the Export-Import Bank.
  I note the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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