In an op-ed for The Hill’s (8/6, Hutter) “Congress Blog,” Click Bond, Inc. President and CEO Karl Hutter stated that the Export-Import Bank “provides American manufacturers, big and small, with the tools they need to compete head to head with foreign competitors.” Hutter highlighted how the lapse in the Bank’s charter impacts Boeing and other large companies, and also trickles down to smaller manufacturers like his own, which employs workers to “design, manufacture, and support high technology fastening systems for airplanes.” Hutter asserted, “when they fly, we fly.” Hutter called on Congress to reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank, saying that “at this pivotal time for U.S. manufacturing’s resurgence, it makes no sense to eliminate a valuable tool that allows us to compete.”
Heitkamp: Congress Must Support US Workers And Reauthorize Ex-Im. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) writes an op-ed for the Jamestown (ND) Sun (8/6) in which she discusses how the Bank has helped North Dakota businesses by “leveling the playing field” in the international markets. Heitkamp outlines that if the Bank’s charter is not renewed, over 5,800 US small businesses will lose financing opportunities, over $9.3 billion in “financing deals and 116 projects in the pipeline” will be suspended, and 164,000 middle-class jobs will be lost. Accordingly, Heitkamp argues, “Congress needs to do the right thing for American workers and small businesses and reauthorize the Export-Import Bank now.”
Rep. Katko Highlights Importance Of Ex-Im. The Auburn (NY) Citizen (8/6) reports in its “Eye On NY” blog that Rep. John Katko (NY-R) “disagrees with conservatives” who claim the Ex-Im Bank is “corporate welfare.” According to Katko, the Bank cannot be construed as welfare since “the money generated by the trade that’s facilitated far outstrips any money the government puts into it. Plus, all the companies pay into it. They’re making money on it. It’s proven a success.”
Associated Industries of Missouri is the sole official designated partner of the National Association of Manufacturers in Missouri.