Republican Congressman Stephen Fincher (TN) and 57 of his Republican colleagues have introduced the Reform Exports and Expand the American Economy Act (HR 597), legislation to reauthorize and reform the Export-Import Bank of the United States. The mission of the Bank is to create and sustain U.S. jobs by financing sales of U.S. exports to international buyers. The Bank is chartered as a government corporation by the Congress of the United States; it was last chartered for a three-year term in 2012 and extended in September 2014 through June 30th, 2015.
On introducing his legislation, Congressman Fincher noted that his bill would make the Export-Import Bank “more accountable and transparent while requiring the bank to be more solvent and self-sufficient.” It would extend the authority of the Bank to operate to September 30, 2019 and sets the Bank’s limit on its aggregate loan, guarantee and insurance exposure at $130 billion.
By financing the export of American goods and services from companies throughout the United States, the Export-Import Bank helped to facilitate more than $37 billion in export sales in Fiscal Year 2013, which in turn supported more than 200,000 American jobs. In addition, a percentage of the commodities exported through Ex-Im Bank financing must be shipped on U.S.-flag vessels, providing a significant source of cargo for the U.S.-flag fleet. As a result, the financing activities of the Export Import Bank not only support American jobs in a wide range of manufacturing industries throughout our country but also equally important American jobs in the domestic transportation, port and U.S.-flag shipping service industries.