Business Letter to Congress
To The Members of the United States Congress:
The undersigned individuals from across this great nation represent businesses of all sizes and are united by one common goal – we all urge you to support the reauthorization of the U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) before its charter expires on September 30, 2014.
The Ex-Im Bank supports jobs in the United States. Businesses rely on the Ex-Im Bank to help finance U.S. exports to international markets, and these exports help maintain or create jobs at our small and large companies. In the last five years, Ex-Im deals have supported 1.2 million jobs. These jobs support our families and strengthen our local economies.
We are the people and businesses fueling the “Main Street” economy and are not what the bank’s opponents call “crony capitalists.” Small businesses accounted for nearly 90% of Ex-Im Bank transactions in 2013, with one in five deals benefitting minority- or women-owned companies.
Without access to capital guaranteed by Ex-Im, our overseas customers will instead buy from our competitors in countries like China, France, Germany and Brazil. If the Ex-Im Bank is not reauthorized before September 30, our companies will be at a significant disadvantage that could have far reaching consequences. Not only will we be at a severe competitive handicap, as scores of similar export credit agencies around the world help boost the sales of our foreign competitors, but it is likely that some of us will face immediate loss of sales and jobs. U.S. businesses of all sizes will be deprived of a vital financing source at a time when boosting exports is increasingly important to growing our nation’s economy.
We urge you to act quickly to support the reauthorization of the Ex-Im Bank. A vote for Ex-Im is a vote for maintaining and growing U.S. jobs. A vote against Ex-Im is a vote to send our jobs overseas.
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