MOBILE, Ala. — Port City mayor Sandy Stimpson met with President Obama Wednesday to discuss the possible impact on Alabama’s economy if the Export-Import Bank is not reauthorized.
The Ex-Im Bank finances exports for American companies that would be too risky for traditional lenders by making guaranteed loans to the foreign purchasers of those exports. Though some conservatives, such as Alabama Senator Richard Shelby (R) and the Heritage Foundation’s political arm Heritage Action have decried the bank as “corporate welfare,” others have said it is a necessary part of the nation’s strategy to decrease its trade deficit and remain competitive in the global economy.
The Ex-Im Bank’s authority lapsed last month after Congress didn’t reauthorize its charter.
Mayor Stimpson joined 10 small business owners and two mayors from across America for the meeting with Obama and senior members of his administration.
“I agreed to attend the meeting at the request of the White House so that I could listen and learn about an important issue for our community,” Mayor Stimpson after the meeting. “I was honored to be invited and I am excited by the national attention that Mobile is receiving. Our city is on the move, and this was an incredible opportunity to continue to spread the good news about Mobile.”
Stimpson said he is going to discuss the information shared at the meeting with Alabama’s congressional delegation, giving them a little more insight into how failing to reauthorize the bank could affect the state.
“It is up to our delegation to determine whether or not the legislation that is before them is good policy,” Stimpson said. “I can say that the stories we heard from the private sector were very compelling, and there is no question that the failure to re-authorize the Ex-Im Bank would hurt the businesses that rely on it for funding, including several companies in Mobile.”
In 2013 76 percent of the bank’s spending went to its top ten beneficiaries. That year Boeing, the largest beneficiary of the bank for several years, received $8.3 billion in aid from the guaranteed loans taken out by the purchasers of their exports.
According to Heritage Action, Boeing has spent $9.3 million in the last three months lobbying to reauthorize Ex-Im.
In April Governor Bentley made his own trip to Washington on behalf of a group of governors to testify before Congress on the need of the Bank.
“Job creation is my number one priority as Governor, and the Export-Import Bank of the United States is a crucial tool that both small and large businesses in Alabama use to export goods around the world,” Bentley said. “Failure to provide a long-term reauthorization of the Ex-Im Bank will place Alabama based businesses at a significant disadvantage in the global marketplace. I strongly encourage Congress to pass a long-term reauthorization.”
After a bipartisan Senate standalone bill that would have reauthorized the Ex-Im Bank until 2019 required it to focus more on supporting small businesses failed to gain traction, leadership is now reportedly considering adding Ex-Im reauthorization as an amendment on an unrelated bill.
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— Elizabeth BeShears (@LizEBeesh) January 21, 2015
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