The IAM is on the frontlines of fighting a dangerous Tea Party effort to shut down the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank, an independent federal agency that provides critical loan guarantees that support over 200,000 U.S. jobs, mostly in manufacturing.
Ex-Im Bank loan guarantees create U.S. jobs by helping foreign companies buy American-made products, like Boeing aircraft and John Deere tractors. In 2013, the credit agency provided over $37 billion worth of export financing and returned over $1 billion to the U.S. Treasury.
Foreign competitors like China, India, France and Germany all have foreign export credit agencies that dwarf the amount of financing the U.S. provides through the Ex-Im Bank. Letting the credit agency die means that good paying American jobs will go overseas and that our $111 billion trade deficit will deepen.
But some hardline conservatives are targeting the Ex-Im Bank for extinction because they say the government should not support U.S. businesses, even if it means the loss of thousands of American jobs.
“The Ex-Im Bank is a critical tool for helping keep jobs – it’s like financing a car,” Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) said at the IAM Legislative Conference in May. “It helps close the deal so a product that’s been made in the United States of America can actually get purchased.”
The IAM supports a full multi-year reauthorization of Ex-Im that continues strong job-creating domestic content provisions. The Ex-Im Bank’s current authorization will expire September 30, 2014.
