Walz Signs Discharge Petition to Bring Reauthorization of Export-Import Bank to the Floor, Support MN Jobs

Press Release

Today, Representative Tim Walz announced that he signed a discharge petition to bring the reauthorization of the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank up for a vote in the House. The Ex-Im Bank promotes American manufacturing, protects hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs, and provides American businesses and workers with the certainty they need to compete in the global marketplace. Without reauthorization, the Ex-Im Bank will shut down on June 30, hurting businesses right here in southern Minnesota.

"We must do all we can to ensure that American businesses and manufacturers have the opportunity to compete in a growing world marketplace, and the Export-Import Bank is a large part of that effort," Representative Walz said. "That is why I signed onto this discharge petition today. The Export-Import Bank has overwhelming support and needs to be brought to the floor immediately. Doing so will renew our commitment to American manufacturing, revitalize Main Street, and work to create good paying, middle-class jobs right here at home."

By providing loans or credit to businesses that the private sector is unwilling or unable to provide, the Export-Import Bank works to help American businesses--both large and small--sell their products in the world market and create jobs right here at home. And, over the course of its nearly 80 year history, the Bank has been very successful with a default rate of less than 2%. Furthermore, the bank is self-sustaining costing U.S. taxpayers nothing while working to pay down the debt. In 2014 alone, it contributed $645 million back to the U.S. Treasury to reduce the deficit. Over the last two decades, Ex-Im Bank has generated a surplus of more than $7 billion for U.S. taxpayers.

With other nations aggressively supporting their businesses' exports, it is critical that the Export-Import Bank be reauthorized in order for American businesses to remain competitive in the world market.

Reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank also has broad bipartisan support from both business and labor groups including the National Association of Manufacturers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO, and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

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