08/19/2014

Opponents of Ex-Im Run Into NAM-Led Coalition

MNI News reports that the ongoing battle to renew the Export-Import Bank is the “manifestation of a long-simmering debate” within the GOP about the role and involvement of the federal government. The debate also highlights the differences between the “business wing of the party and the more purist free market faction” of the Republican party.

The Bank’s opponents are being “firmly opposed by...stalwarts of the American business community,” including the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), which has organized a coalition of over 800 companies and associations to advocate for the Bank’s renewal. A letter to Congress from the coalition said “failure to reauthorize Ex-Im would amount to unilateral disarmament in the face of other governments’ far more aggressive export credit programs, which have provided their own exporters with an estimated $1 trillion in financing support in recent years.”

Philip Mezey, President and CEO of Washington-based Itron Co., writes an opinion piece for The Hill in its “Congress Blog” blog, saying that “one of the best tools we have to really drive [Africa’s] economic development is on the verge of disappearing.” Mezey advocates for the Ex-Im, arguing that the Bank provides funding that will help American businesses make investments in the emerging markets of Africa. The Ex-Im Bank has “played an important role in addressing” the energy and infrastructure needs of the continent, but without congressional action, “American businesses and African citizens will lose what has become a critical lifeline.” By supporting Ex-Im reauthorization, we can “not only help Africans...but support our own economy as well,” he writes.