GOP Lawmakers Move To Block Program That Helps Small Businesses Boost U.S. Exports
Republican lawmakers are moving to block a job-creation package because it includes a provision that would help U.S. companies access the capital they need to sell their products and services abroad. The party of no’s latest target is the U.S. Export Import Bank (ExIM) — the government agency that provides loans, guarantees and insurance products to enable US companies, especially small businesses, to export.
The ExIm Bank’s charter caps its overall outstanding commitments at $100 billion and Senate Democrats are seeking to raise the cap to $140 billion and reauthorize ExIm for another four years.
But this doesn’t sit well with conservative lawmakers. They object to the reauthorization calling Ex-Im’s activities “corporate welfare” that distorts the free market. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor suggested that, instead of reauthorizing the bank, the U.S. talk to our major trading partners to get them to “end subsidized export financing programs and other forms of export subsidies.”
By all means, lets talk. But in the meantime, there’s no need to pull the rug out from underneath firms and workers that export now. After all, at a time when millions of Americans are unemployed, we need to do everything in our power to create jobs by helping businesses export more — not cut off their financing to do so.
Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/03/13/443980/gop-lawmakers-export-bank/
= new reply since forum marked as read
