Senator Kirk Applauds House Discharge Petition to Revive Ex-Im Bank
WASHINGTON, DC U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) released the following statement after the discharge petition in the House, filed by Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.), garnered the necessary signatures to ensure a House vote on the Kirk-Heitkamp Export-Import Bank bill (S. 819).
Today the House sent a clear message that the fate of more than 164,000 American jobs and more than 6,000 small businesses nationwide will not be dictated by a minority of the Congress. We cannot continue to shed jobs overseas due to partisan bickering and Congressional inaction. The Senate has already passed the Kirk-Heitkamp Ex-Im bill with 64 votes and I am confident that given the chance, it will do so again.
BACKGROUND:
The Export-Import Bank Reform and Reauthorization Act (S. 819), which Senator Kirk introduced with Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), was adopted as an amendment to the DRIVE Act this past July with a vote of 64 to 29. The Kirk-Heitkamp bill would extend Ex-Im’s charter, which expired June 30, until 2019.
The top Illinois companies supported by Ex-Im are The Boeing Company, CNH Industrial America and Caterpillar. The agency also assists hundreds of small businesses throughout the state. Ex-Im operates at no cost to the taxpayer, and in the past three years the bank has returned $2.5 billion to the U.S. Treasury. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the Kirk-Heitkamp bill would save taxpayers an additional $2.3 billion.
