Providing for Consideration of HR 348, Responsibly and Professionally Invigorating Development Act of 2015; Providing for Consideration of HR 758, Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2015
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. HECK of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I rise to oppose the previous
question so that we might indeed take up legislation to reauthorize the
Export-Import Bank. Because I think the gentleman from Georgia has it
exactly right, the question before this Chamber, before this Congress,
before the President, before the American people is: Where are the
jobs?
Now we know where the jobs, in part, have come from over the last 8
years. In fact, about 1.5 million of them have come through the
activity of the Export-Import Bank, where they supported $200 billion
in exports spread out across 7,300 companies. And we know where the
jobs have not come from since July 1, when the charter of the Export-
Import Bank expired, at which time there were 116 deals frozen,
constituting $9.3 billion in activity.
Who were they?
Norwest Ingredients is a company in my home State that sells mint
flavoring for the manufacturers of candy and oral care. The company
currently employs about a dozen employees. It is a small business.
Without Ex-Im, many small businesses like Norwest aren't going to be
able to extend terms to foreign buyers, and they will have to ask for
cash in advance. When they do, they will lose their business to other
countries who have export credit authorities.
By way of reminder, every single developed nation on the face of the
Earth has an export credit authority right now, except the United
States of America.
Combustion Associates in California, they spent 3 years closing a
deal for a new power project in Nigeria that would generate $39 million
in revenue and create 30 new American jobs. The deal is on hold, along
with two other projects that would have been worth nearly $50 million
in revenue and 100 jobs.
GE, the gentlewoman from California shared the sad news of the 500
jobs that are leaving these shores as a consequence of our failure to
reauthorize the Ex-Im.
Digital Check, an Illinois company, sells check scanning equipment to
clients in nearly 100 countries. Tom Anderson is the family-run
company's chief executive. He says: We're losing now a quarter million
in sales in British markets and around $300,000 in India. And that
half-million-dollar hit is causing the company to reevaluate whether
they will suspend, altogether, their scanner leasing services.
FirmGreen--Steve Wilburn, president of FirmGreen and, I might add, a
proud and highly decorated marine--laid off 10 of its 17 employees last
year because the company lost $60 million in contracts during our
latest period of uncertainty.
They are now, right as we speak, right as we are attempting to answer
the question of where are the jobs, competing for a $300 million
project in the Philippines, and it hinges on securing export credit
financing from the Ex-Im. Without it, that business is going to likely
go to a South Korean rival and, with it, the 400 jobs he would have
added.
Boeing, again, the gentlewoman made mention of layoffs in El Segundo,
California. That was not the first but the second satellite sale to a
foreign company and country that we lost as a consequence of the
uncertainty surrounding the Export-Import Bank.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. HECK of Washington. The outgoing CEO, Mr. McNerney, said: ``We
never would have considered that before this craziness on Ex-Im. We
love making and designing airplanes in the U.S. We are now forced to
think about doing it differently.''
Ladies and gentlemen of the House, we have now moved beyond the
theoretical and the abstract. We are now in the phase of this debate
where real people with real jobs and real families are losing their
livelihood. The question is right: Where are the jobs? The answer is:
In reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank.
Defeat the previous question so that we might do what a majority of
this body wants to do, which is continue to compete in a global
economy.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source