Signing Petition to Require Vote on Export-Import Bank

Statement

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree joined a successful effort to force House leaders to allow a vote on a bill to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank (ExIm). Since a majority of all House members signed what's known as a discharge petition, the bill will have to be voted on by the full House, likely later this month.

"This has dragged on way too long," Pingree said. "We heard from plenty of Maine businesses this summer who said that letting the bank expire would lead to job losses, and that's exactly what has happened. It's ridiculous that we haven't even been allowed to vote on a bill and that we had to resort to signing a petition to force House leadership to bring it up. There is a lot of bipartisan support for the Export-Import Bank and I'm pretty confident it will pass."

The discharge petition was signed by the necessary 218 House Members today and will now force a vote on HR 597--the bill reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank.

Last month, GE announced that failure to reauthorize ExIm would cause them to move work that supports 80 jobs in Maine to a facility in France.

The U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) helps manufacturers sell U.S.-made goods overseas. The Bank has supported $266 million in exports from Maine since 2007 and over the last twenty years has returned $7 billion to U.S. taxpayers.

Source