ICYMI: Small Businesses Are Feeling The Pain Of Ex-Im’s Lapse

The lapse of the Ex-Im Bank’s charter is hurting small businesses and job creators.

 

Below are highlights from recent stories that show how the loss of Ex-Im financing negatively impacts the operations and growth of small businesses across the U.S.

 

As always, please let me know if I can be of additional assistance.

 

~Kate

 

Maryland Exporter Says That The Loss Of Ex-Im Is Forcing Them To Put Current Contracts On Hold. “Headquartered in Maryland, with a manufacturing plant in Texas, IGS builds sustainable materials that go into structures including affordable houses for low income populations in developing countries. IGS uses the Ex-Im Bank’s export credit insurance to help back contracts for these housing projects. Since Congress let the Bank lapse on June 30 and left Washington for the August recess without passing a reauthorization, China says his most current project — a contract to build housing in Kano, Nigeria, remains in a ‘holding pattern’ until the Bank can fulfill pending and new orders again.” (National Association Of Manufacturers, “Ex-Im Lapse Leaves Humanitarian Efforts For Small Manufacturer In A Lurch,” Medium, 8/7/15)

 

Ohio Lumber Exporter Says That It “Needs The Ex-Im Bank To Support” Its Transactions. “Graham Hill is owner and president of Mason’s Anglo American Hardwoods, a lumber exporter. An American citizen and a native of the United Kingdom, Hill started his company to trade temperate North American hardwoods. He buys wood from U.S. sawmills and exports it overseas, much of it to the U.K., the Middle East and to Asia. His sawmill suppliers typically want to be paid in 10 days, but Hill is sometimes forced to extend 60- to 90-day credit terms to customers overseas. He sometimes needs the Ex-Im bank to support those transactions. ‘I pay for that,’ Hill said. ‘It’s not a freebie. It really hacks me off when I hear ‘corporate welfare.’” (Thomas Gnau, “Ohio Firms Impacted By Export Bank Fight In Congress,” Springfield News-Sun, 8/13/15)

 

Arizona Exporter: “If The Bank Is Not Reauthorized, We’ll Be At A Disadvantage.” “‘We’ve got distributors in Australia, South Africa and Europe that rely on the credit that the EXIM Bank allows us to provide,’ Wudel said. ‘I think it’s become overly politicized, and it’s something when you step back and look at it, it makes all the sense in the world to support,’ Wudel said. ‘If the bank is not reauthorized, we’ll be at a disadvantage to other countries that offer the same kind of financing services.’” (Joe Dana, “Threat Looms For AZ Frozen Yogurt International Exporter,” 12 News NBC, 8/3/15)

 

Ohio Small Business Owner Is “Concerned” About The Loss Of Ex-Im For Suppliers Of Exporters. “Smaller companies are also concerned. Rick Little, president of Starwin Industries, and chairman of the Dayton Regional Manufacturers Association Board, says his relatively small Kettering company does not directly export. He has about 35 employees, and his customers include automotive producers, government and research facilities and others. But he is concerned about the companies his business serves who are direct exporters. GE Aviation, for example, spends $1.2 billion a year with suppliers in Ohio. ‘It got my attention when Boeing and GE both, in the course of like two weeks, said this was going to affect jobs directly,’ Little said. ‘That got my attention.’” (Thomas Gnau, “Ohio Firms Impacted By Export Bank Fight In Congress,” Springfield News-Sun, 8/13/15)