[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 100 (Wednesday, June 25, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3963-S3964]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           EXPORT-IMPORT BANK

  Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, I come to the floor today to talk 
about the Export-Import Bank--the program that is a vital tool of U.S. 
manufacturers and small businesses across the United States of America 
to help them grow jobs and gain access to international markets.
  There has been a lot written in the last 24, 48 hours about this 
because there has been a lot of discussion about people who have 
previously supported the program--maybe voted for it five or six 
times--and now all of a sudden have either amnesia or have forgotten 
what is so important about this program.
  I am here this morning to talk about this issue because I believe it 
is so vital to the U.S. economy and to the economic opportunities and 
challenges we face.
  The Export-Import Bank basically gives assistance in the form of 
securitizing loans that are sought by the private sector when a U.S. 
company tries to sell a product overseas.
  You can imagine that if you are a U.S. manufacturer--and you could be 
involved in lots of different things; in our State, there is everything 
from aviation to grain silos to music stands to agricultural products--
when you go and say, well, we want to sell to Ethiopia or we want to 
sell to a South American country or we want to sell to an Asian 
country--for example, a small businessperson in the State of Washington 
says: Well, OK, I have found a customer in one of those countries for 
my product--and I will use grain silos as example because there is a 
company in our State that now sells grain silos to 82 different 
countries around the globe--that customer in that country says: Well, 
how am I going to finance this deal? It is not exactly like this 
sophistication is present in every one of these developing countries. 
Yet we want U.S. products to be sold into these developing countries.
  I guess we could sit back on our laurels and just think it is all 
going to happen on its own and let the Europeans sell products into 
that market or let the Chinese sell products into that market or we 
could hustle--which is what the United States of America does--and we 
can figure out a way to secure those deals when those customers have a 
challenge of financing within their country.
  Now, it does not mean that the Export-Import Bank finances all of 
those deals. It means it provides, in a lot of cases, security so that 
when a private bank does finance the sale of that deal, there is 
certainty and predictability.
  Why is that important? Well, as one vice president of a bank that 
operates in 19 different States and the District of Columbia told us: 
Most banks, even those as large as--in this case--PNC, cannot alone 
take risks for helping a U.S. company sell in countries with 
governments that may be less stable than the United States of America.

  It makes sense. Right. Look at what we are seeing around the globe. 
We are seeing lots of change. You cannot count on a deal and account 
for the capricious nature of governments. If someone stiffs me in 
Pittsburgh, I will just go to a court in Pittsburgh and win a judgment 
against these individuals. Well, you cannot practically expand that to 
a government in Africa or in Asia. You cannot go to a court system here 
in the United States and say: Hey, that government failed to pay on 
that particular customer deal that was enacted. But you can, with the 
help of the Export-Import Bank, secure those loans and make sure that 
payment is received.
  That is why so many small businesses across the State of Washington 
like and have used this program in conjunction with the private banking 
industry.
  For example, there is a company: Manhasset music stands. I love that 
company because it makes music stands somewhat like this podium I am 
speaking in front of that is used for placement of music, and they sell 
all over the globe. In fact, China is one of their best customers. I 
love that there is a place in Yakima, WA, that is figuring out how to 
sell a U.S.-manufactured product in China and that they are continuing 
to compete with the Chinese every day and winning that battle.
  I am so proud that company uses the Export-Import Bank to reduce 
their risk to those customers because those customers live in a place 
where the banking and security might not be there.
  Why is this so important? Well, first of all, 95 percent of consumers 
in the world live outside of the United States of America. So unless we 
just want to sell to people in the United States of America, we better 
have a pretty good strategy of how we are going to sell to people 
outside of the United States of America.
  So with 95 percent of consumers outside of the United States of 
America and a rising middle class around the globe--the middle class is 
going to double in the next 20 years. It is going to double. That means 
more people with more disposable income to buy products and to use 
services that are so critical.
  Take aviation, for example. Because there is a rising middle class 
around the globe and a lot more people want to travel, that is 35,000 
new airplanes that are in demand. That is how many we are going to have 
to build over the next 20 years--35,000 new airplanes.

[[Page S3964]]

  Well, that could be really good news for the United States of America 
and U.S. manufacturing because those are great middle-class 
manufacturing jobs. But guess what. Those jobs are not secure. The 
Brazilians want to build airplanes. The Europeans already build 
airplanes. The Chinese want to build airplanes. They are all competing 
for that rising middle-class market that is demanding new airplanes. 
They all want to get in the action of having manufacturing jobs in 
their states.
  So we need to make sure we implement the Export-Import Bank, which is 
about to expire on September 30 of this year. Without the Export-Import 
Bank, we are going to be hobbling businesses across the United States 
of America and not giving them these tools.
  The Export-Import Bank has created thousands of jobs in the United 
States of America. It has increased exports by $37 billion and helped 
small businesses and created jobs. It also helps us pay down the 
Federal deficit. It has generated over $1.057 billion returned to the 
U.S. Treasury. So it has actually helped us pay down the Federal debt. 
So my colleagues who are now all of a sudden either having amnesia on 
why they supported the Ex-Im Bank or not coming forward to support it 
now need to remember what a vital tool this is to the U.S. economy.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
  Ms. CANTWELL. I ask unanimous consent for another 30 seconds.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Ms. CANTWELL. I want to close by saying that other countries use 
these same financial tools. So a lot of my colleagues can see that 
other countries, for the same reason, when the marketplace does not 
provide a private sector financial tool to securitize these products--
it is important that the United States stay competitive with everybody 
chasing global market opportunities.
  Let's not hobble U.S. manufacturing. Let's get the Export-Import Bank 
out of committee and reauthorized.
  I yield the floor.

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