The Ex-Im Bank operates under a renewable charter that expired on September 30, 2011. House and Senate negotiators recently agreed on a compromise proposal that reauthorizes the Bank for four years and increases its lending authority from $100 billion to $135 billion.
The Ex-Im Bank, an independent federal government agency, is the official export credit agency (ECA) of the United States. It helps finance American exports of manufactured goods and services, with the objective of contributing to the employment of U.S. workers, primarily in circumstances when alternative financing is not available. It is one of approximately 20 federal agencies involved in promoting U.S. exports and is a participant in President Obama’s National Export Initiative (NEI), a plan to double exports by 2015 to support two million U.S. jobs.
AMT is a member of The Coalition for Employment Through Exports (CEE), the only national not-for-profit educational and advocacy association that specializes exclusively in issues affecting the ability of U.S. exporters to obtain trade and investment finance, insurance and advocacy from the U.S. government. CEE position paper of Ex-Im reauthorization.