Senate Democrats plan to introduce to an amendment to a new jobs bill that would extend the charter of the Export-Import Bank for another four years and raise the bank's lending limit by 40%, to $140 billion.
The Ex-Im Bank provides loan guarantees and other financing to U.S. companies that sell goods overseas, and though it has been around since the 1930s, Congress must reauthorize its charter every few years. Its current charter expires May 31 and the bank is expected to reach its lending cap of $100 million sometime next month.
The bank's reauthorization is typically a formality, but it has been delayed in recent months by concerns within the airline industry that its lending policies are putting some U.S.-based carriers at a competitive disadvantage. Specifically, Delta Airlines claims that loan guarantees the Ex-Im Bank offered to Air India to buy 30 planes from U.S. manufacturer Boeing would create more competition for U.S. carriers and could force them to cancel certain routes.
Ex-Im officials have argued, however, that if Boeing cannot sell its planes to overseas airlines it would likely have to eliminate jobs in the U.S..
At a press conference Wednesday, Sens. Maria Cantwell of Washington and Charles Schumer of New York said they plan to attach their amendment to reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank to the Jumpstart Our Business Startups, or JOBS Act, that the House passed last week. In a news release, Cantwell stressed that the Ex-Im Bank is an independent agency that, since 2005, has generated a profit of $3 billion for the U.S. Treasury. In fiscal year 2011, the bank's overall financing was a record $32 billion, an increase of nearly 34% over the prior year.
"Extending the Ex-Im Bank will provide certainty for American businesses and help support private-sector job growth," Cantwell said at the news conference. "These programs come at no cost to the U.S. Treasury."
President Obama has repeatedly urged lawmakers to quickly renew the bank's charter and raise its lending cap, warning that a failure to do so could harm the economy.
"Failure to reauthorize the Bank will give competitors, like China, an unfair edge in global trade, with the costs of decreases in U.S. exports and good American jobs," the White House said in a statement last month.
