Concord Monitor: On Small Business Tour, Ayotte Affirms her Support for Resurrecting Import-Export Bank

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Amid a political fight in Washington D.C. over the fate of the federal Export-Import Bank, New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte expressed support for the bank during a visit to a Concord company Monday.

Ayotte stopped by Concord-based company Boyle Energy Services and Technology to declare her commitment to small businesses, saying the bank was an essential way for American businesses to remain competitive in a global market. Boyle is one of a few New Hampshire companies that relies on support from the Export-Import Bank (known as Ex-Im), which gives financial assistance to foreign customers looking to purchase goods from American companies, helping stimulate exports.

"This is very important to have for smaller businesses like (Boyle), because otherwise they wouldn't be able to get the financing that they need," Ayotte said during a roundtable discussion with company president and CEO Mike Boyle and Provident Bank President Chuck Withee.

Boyle agreed, saying reauthorization of the bank is critical to helping his company expand and hire more New Hampshire residents.

The company commissions large energy pipelines and nuclear power plants after they are constructed and before they are made operational. The commissioning process includes cleaning up after construction and making sure everything is working correctly for operation to start.

Right now, they have about 60 employees, many of whom travel around the world helping set up new energy infrastructure. Boyle engineers are currently working in countries including Bangladesh, Mexico, Brazil, Panama and Japan, Boyle said.

Looking ahead, the company plans to expand to bigger projects such as oil and gas pipelines and work with major companies such as Chevron, Boyle said.

"We're in New Hampshire, everyone else that does this is out of Houston, but I live here and I grew up here," he told Ayotte.

But the only way he can do that is with help from the Ex-Im bank, he said.

"Our entire strategy for growth, jobs, everything, is now in jeopardy," Boyle said. "As we sit today, I can't go to Chevron and the largest projects in the world that we've now created a product to compete with and say, "well, we want to do a project that's two and a half times our revenue.'"

Boyle estimated that with the help from Ex-Im, the partnerships with larger energy companies could create hundreds of new jobs in the Granite State, many with six-figure salaries.

The authorization for Ex-Im expired on June 30. On July 26, the U.S. Senate voted 67 to 26 to start the bank up again, but the House of Representatives has yet to vote on the measure.

The question of whether to re-instate the Ex-Im bank has become a major sticking point between the majority of the Republican legislators and those in its most conservative wing, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who is also running for president of the United States.

Last month, Cruz threatened to filibuster the highway bill that contains a provision to resurrect the bank, calling it "corporate welfare" and an example of "corruption."

Ayotte disagreed with that assessment, calling the funding the bank provides "critical" for keeping small businesses healthy and competitive.

Boyle's situation "demonstrates the importance of having this financing available to small businesses," Ayotte said. "It's time for the House to act...so we don't lose jobs in New Hampshire."

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