[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 133 (Wednesday, September 16, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S6669]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               REAUTHORIZATION OF THE EXPORT-IMPORT BANK

  Mrs. McCASKILL. Mr. President, I rise to talk about something very 
important to small businesses in Missouri. Ironically, tonight there is 
going to be a debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. I hear 
a lot of talk from my friends on the other side of the aisle about 
small businesses, but here we are today confronting the failure and the 
job losses associated with our not embracing the Export-Import Bank. 
President Eisenhower, President Ford, President Reagan, President 
George Bush--both President George Bushes.
  This was not controversial, and it is really easy to understand why. 
The Export-Import Bank has never been controversial. This is a credit 
agency. There are 60 other credit agencies around the world that 
support companies in their countries--60 around the world. It is not a 
level playing field in the global economy if America decides to no 
longer support our manufacturing economy and the small businesses 
associated with that by removing this important tool for exports. It is 
real jobs. This is not fairytale stuff, and this is not crony 
capitalism. This is an analysis of risks done by a credit agency and 
that credit agency, when it analyzes the risk, can keep track of it. We 
can figure out if in fact they are taking good risks or if in fact it 
is scratching somebody's back by virtue of the fact that $7 billion has 
been put in our Treasury after the Bank has covered its expenses.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sullivan). All time for morning business 
has expired.
  Mrs. McCASKILL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak in 
morning business for a couple more minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mrs. McCASKILL. In 2014 this credit agency that all the other 
countries in the world have access to put $674 million in the U.S. 
Treasury.
  Let me count off here. It creates jobs, supports manufacturing, and 
adds money into our Treasury. What is the problem?
  My staff and I have met with nearly 100 companies in Missouri, and 90 
percent of Ex-Im's work directly supports small businesses. I will say 
that again: 90 percent supports small businesses.
  I will give a couple of examples. There is a small company in Joplin, 
MO. These kids started it in their garage. They build skateboard parks. 
They now have a manufacturing facility, and they are manufacturing 
skateboard parks which are exported around the world. They can't go to 
their local community bank to help their customer in Indonesia. They 
need what other countries have--a credit agency that analyzes risk on a 
global basis.
  I toured a small Kansas City company now run by the third generation 
of the same family. They rely on Ex-Im Bank to help them manage their 
risk of extending credit in foreign markets. Sixty percent of their 
sales are exports. Do we want to shutter this company? Is that what we 
want to do? Do we want them to have to cut their employee base by 60 
percent because they can no longer export?
  There is a St. Louis company that makes cutting-edge play equipment 
for children and uses the insurance from Ex-Im Bank to work with 
customers in South America, Australia, and beyond. There is another 
small St. Louis manufacturer that was founded as a family-owned company 
in 1951 that sells electrical components to Saudi Arabia, Brazil, and 
Thailand. They depend on Ex-Im Bank.
  What is going on in this place? How has this become controversial? 
This was never been controversial, and there is one representative that 
is in a key position in the House of Representatives that is shutting 
this whole thing down. The American people ought to be outraged. We can 
vote on Iran as many times as you guys want us to if it makes everybody 
feel better. I have no problem with that. It was a tough decision for 
me. I made up my mind. But to be wasting time on political posturing 
when these jobs--and I have real examples of contracts that aren't 
going through now because Ex-Im is not there.
  I plead with my friends on the other side of the aisle: Make time in 
your busy schedule of scoring political points on the Iranian agreement 
to reauthorize Export-Import Bank. Jobs in my State depend on it. Yes, 
we have unemployment down to 5 percent in this country, but that 
doesn't mean we shouldn't still focus on jobs every day in the Senate.
  With that, I yield the floor and ask for the help of all my 
Republican colleagues to help us get Ex-Im Bank across the finish line 
so small businesses in this country do not suffer at the hands of 
global competition that figures out that this ought to be easy.
  I thank the Presiding Officer.

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