The U.S. Export-Import Bank, popularly known as Ex-Im, is a Washington success story. Established in the depths of the Great Depression to help manufacturers obtain financing for overseas sales, it manages to support $50 billion in exports annually that sustain 250,000 jobs without costing taxpayers a cent. In fact, Ex-Im actually gave a billion dollars in excess financing fees to the Treasury last year after covering its administrative costs. But that hasn’t stopped a peculiar coalition of right-wing think tanks and misguided domestic airlines from trying to impede Ex-Im’s operations (even though some of them regularly tap export credits available from other countries). The latest gambit critics have dreamed up is to block confirmation of nominees to Ex-Im’s board so it can’t grant new loan guarantees. If this assault on Ex-Im succeeds, a lot of Americans will be out work unnecessarily. I have written a commentary for Forbes here.
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