Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly emphasized the importance of the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank, which provides export financing assistance to American businesses, in two hearings of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs this week. During those hearings, he questioned the witnesses on the possible negative repercussions to small businesses and jobs if the Ex-Im Bank charter is allowed to expire at the end of this month.
Donnelly said during Tuesday’s hearing on the Perspectives on the Export-Import Bank: “This is about jobs. This is about Indiana jobs, this is about American jobs, and whether we stand up and fight for them… this Senator will fight and fight nonstop to try to make sure that the Ex-Im Bank survives because it’s critical to jobs, to families in my state that when they go home want to put food on the table, take care if their family, and have a decent life for their children. That’s what the Ex-Im Bank helps do.”
“Those are all companies that have benefitted from Ex-Im,” Donnelly continued as he highlighted several Indiana companies that have benefited from export financing assistance. “They are not huge multi-nationals. They are companies in South Bend, in Indianapolis, in Fort Wayne, and for them, this is not about a theoretical exercise. This is about whether or not they have work to do, and whether or not they have products to export. And so, I would say that this is the real world. These are the people who the Ex-Im Bank is helping.”
During yesterday’s hearing on Oversight of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, Donnelly questioned Ex-Im Bank Chairman Fred Hochberg on the importance of the Ex-Im Bank to small businesses that would have significant difficulty obtaining export financing otherwise. Donnelly also highlighted the impact of increased exports on economic and job growth, the low default rate of the Ex-Im Bank, and the generated profits regularly returned to taxpayers by the Ex-Im Bank.
Donnelly has continuously advocated for the reauthorization of the Ex-Im Bank. In the last congress, he worked with Senators Manchin (D-WV) and Kirk (R-IL) on a bill to reauthorize the Bank. Recently, Donnelly partnered with Senators Kirk (R-IL) and Heitkamp (D-ND) on a bipartisan bill, S. 819, that includes important reforms to reauthorize the Bank’s charter until September 30, 2019, increase small business lending, and minimize risk to taxpayers by enhancing bank oversight
In Indiana, the Ex-Im Bank has directly helped more than 100 companies export more than $3 billion in goods and services overseas since 2010. This financing boosts exports, generates economic activity, and supports American jobs. Additionally, the Bank makes money and has returned billions of dollars to Treasury in recent years.
