Kaine: A Little-Known Bank Has a Big Impact on Local Jobs

What if I told you there is a way to create hundreds of thousands of jobs, help American businesses find customers abroad, and do it at no cost to the American taxpayer? It might sound too good to be true, but there is a little-known agency called the Export-Import Bank that is doing just that and turning a profit of billions of dollars each year.

The Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank is one of the most important tools that U.S. companies have to boost exports to customers abroad who want high-quality products produced in the United States – from satellites, to apples, to products and materials made by our skilled manufacturers. In 2013, it was estimated that Ex-Im Bank created or sustained more than 200,000 jobs in the United States, some of them right here in Danville. Since 2007, Ex-Im has helped support $2 billion in exports from businesses across the Commonwealth, including Global Food Connection, Inc., a leading poultry and dairy export company based in Danville. Thanks to assistance from Ex-Im, Global Food Connection, Inc.  is able to safely and securely grow its business relationships overseas – relationships that ultimately keep the long line of Virginia workers and suppliers in its supply chain, including farmers and port workers, on the job. 

Unfortunately, there are some in Congress who do not want to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank before its charter expires in September. This is not a partisan issue – the list of Ex-Im Bank supporters over its 80-year history includes Presidents John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, as well as many Republicans and Democrats serving in Congress today. Business groups like the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers strongly support reauthorization. Yet a group of legislators argues that doing away with the Ex-Im Bank will allow the private sector to step in and provide the same services. This is not a realistic view.

Ex-Im Bank assumes risks that other private-sector lenders are unable or unwilling to take at a reasonable cost, and it helps level the playing field for U.S. businesses because so many of our global competitors have banks just like this that are willing to support even more loans. Without the support of Ex-Im Bank, American companies would lose out on bids to foreign competitors and our nation’s export sales would fall dramatically. Ending that support now and jeopardizing hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country would be a harmful mistake at a time when we need to be spurring job growth, not hampering it.

It’s rare that we are presented with such a “no brainer,” and in this frustrating period of partisanship and gridlock we need to seize these opportunities to work together when they present themselves. The Ex-Im Bank is one of the best tools we have to help move the economy forward and I hope my colleagues in both Houses will join me in supporting reauthorization this September.