Export-Import Bank Reform and Reauthorization Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the reauthorization of the Ex-Im Bank.

As a former ranking member on the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, I saw on a regular basis how

important this was to our economy and to small businesses in America.

So here today we are coming to the floor in a bipartisan way to create good-paying jobs. How many good-paying jobs? 1.5 million since the year 2007.

We are here to reduce the deficit. How much are we reducing the deficit? In the past two decades, $7 billion in money has come in to reduce the deficit.

So we are creating good-paying jobs, reducing the deficit, fueling our economy, and we are respecting the entrepreneurship and the optimism of small- and moderate-sized businesses across the country.

Yes, there are some big businesses that benefit, but most of them have subcontractors that need the work of the Ex-Im Bank.

So when we talk about making it in America, I want to recognize the great leadership of our whip, Mr. Hoyer. Make it in America, this is what this is about. Make it in America so that people can make it in America but that, also, we can find markets abroad for our products made in America.

Thank you, Mr. Hoyer, for your leadership on that and on the reauthorization of the Ex-Im Bank. Because of all of that work, the term ``Made in America,'' that label continues to have the great prestige and quality that we have always known it to have.

I want to salute Mr. Denny Heck. He is just remarkable. In 24 hours, he had 187 cosponsors of his bill earlier this year. That is so remarkable. Then in a short time after that, he had even more. Thank you for all the work that you have done to bring us to today.

To the Republicans who are supporting this, to Mr. Fincher, thank you for your leadership and your courage to give us this opportunity today.

I want to thank Maxine Waters. This has been a long haul, as many of you know. Over that period of time, for one reason or another, there were not hearings in the committee of jurisdiction that could focus on the advantages of the Ex-Im Bank. So she had roundtable after roundtable, bringing in experts on what this meant to our economy, listening to the public, hearing from small businesses about what this meant to them.

Who would have ever thought that Maxine Waters, the ranking member on the Financial Services Committee, would be the champion for big-, moderate-, and small-sized businesses in our company? We would have thought it, and now the world knows.

So, Maxine, thank you for your perseverance. You really did such a wonderful job keeping this issue alive. I recognize the great leadership we have at the Ex-Im Bank with Mr. Hochberg and the others who were there, the other hardworking people who are there who know about markets.

This is important because many banks that small businesses might go to for a loan or loan guarantees, they are not used to dealing with markets abroad and that is why this is such an important link between entrepreneurship, creativity, innovation in our country, and how to expand markets for all of that throughout the world.

So I am really happy. Congratulations to the House of Representatives. Today, we are creating good-paying jobs. We are reducing the deficit. We are honoring entrepreneurship, and we are doing it in a bipartisan way.

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