WASHINGTON, D.C. – In remarks on the Senate floor today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) called on Congress to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank). The Ex-Im Bank, which is set to cease operations at the end of this month unless Congress renews its charter, is the nation’s official export credit agency and a key export tool that helps companies in Maine and across the country sell their products in international markets.

“We are engaged in intense global competition for the export of goods and services, and taking away one of the tools that our businesses use – the Export-Import Bank – just doesn't make any sense,” said Senator King. “This is an agency of the federal government that has been extraordinarily effective. It creates jobs in the U.S. It supports jobs. It supports American businesses. And it returns money to the Treasury.…It supports small businesses in Maine who otherwise couldn’t make these sales into the international markets….I hope that my colleagues will join me in support of this program. We should not be playing games with this important agency at a time of such intense global competition.”

If Congress fails to act before the June 30^th deadline, the bank will expire, which will negatively affect exporters in Maine and around the country. In his remarks, Senator King highlighted how the Ex-Im Bank is supporting businesses in Maine. He shared a quote from Connie Justice, the President of Planson International, a global IT provider in New Gloucester that Senator King visited last year, in which she highlights the critical impact Ex-Im Bank has had on her business:

“Our expansion and increased sales would have been impossible without Ex-Im’s involvement,” said Justice. “We continue to use Ex-Im Bank to insure our receivables to Ex-Im approved customers in developing countries…The US Export-Import Bank is a key partner in our success.”

Planson utilized a $1.5 million Ex-Im Bank revolving working capital loan guarantee in 2011 to export computers and software to Sudan for use during the historic referendum for Southern Sudan Independence. The business was named the Ex-Im Bank’s sub-Saharan Africa Exporter of the Year in 2011. In 2013, the Bank helped support exports sales worth more than $749,000 while, so far in 2014, it has supported exports sales worth more than $455,000.

Along with visiting Planson International last year, Senator King also visited several other Maine small businesses that rely on the Ex-Im Bank to help sell their products in foreign markets – including high-temperature textile manufacturer Auburn Manufacturing, Inc. (AMI). AMI has utilized the bank’s export-promotion programs since 2009 and the bank has supported more than $3.35 million in export sales for AMI since that time.

Since 2007, the Ex-Im Bank has supported more than $264 million in exports from 13 companies in 12 communities in Maine. Nationally, it has supported nearly $189 billion in exports over the last five years. The Ex-Im Bank is self-supported through interest payment and fees, and turns a profit for the American taxpayers. The Bank transferred approximately $675 million in revenue to the U.S. Treasury in 2014 and has returned over $7 billion to the Treasury over the past two decades. Since its creation nearly 80 years ago, language to extend the bank’s authority has been approved by Congress more than 40 times.

Its reauthorization has also been backed by business groups around the country, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the Business Roundtable. Historically, the bank has received strong bipartisan support.

Senator King’s floor remarks can be viewed HERE. For more information on the impact of the Ex-Im Bank in Maine, click HERE.

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