Hoyer Remarks at Press Conference Urging Republican Leaders to Let the House Vote to Reauthorize the Export-Import Bank

WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) spoke at a press conference this afternoon with leading House Democrats to call on House Republican leaders to allow a vote on reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank before the Bank's Charter expires on June 30:

“As you’ve heard, we have just three weeks or twelve legislative days until the Export-Import Bank shuts down – not entirely, as Congressman [Heck] indicated, but for all intents and purposes of new loans. We must not let that happen. Yesterday, the Financial Services Committee held hearings on this issue, and Republicans held a press conference in support of reauthorization. At the press conference, Republican [Rep.] Chris Collins said, and I want to quote – these are not my words or any of the words here [from Democrats], these are Republican Members, some very conservative Republican Members – Chris Collins: ‘I am befuddled by what’s going on in the heads of some of the Members in my own party.’

“Remember, this is a bill, that, like a bill – reauthorization – that Mr. Cantor, when he was Majority Leader, and I put together some years ago that passed overwhelmingly with a majority of Republicans voting for it – about 140 to be specific. Rep. Pat Meehan, another Republican Member, called the attempt to end the Bank ‘counterproductive’ and that it was ‘evidence of something very wrong in Congress.’ These are not Democrats’ words. These are Members who have been trying to deal with this issue in a constructive way and are obviously very frustrated at their party’s failure to bring this to the Floor. By the way, I want to say that Speaker Boehner wants this bill to pass. They’re among the sixty Republicans, who I just quoted, who have co-sponsored a multi-year reauthorization of Ex-Im’s charter authority.

“[Rep.] Stephen Fincher, who is the sponsor of that bill, said this: ‘Allow us to have our day, allow us to have our say, and if we lose then the Bank won’t be reauthorized.’ Now, Speaker Boehner, in January 2011 when he took office as Speaker of the House, said this, ‘Above all else, we will welcome the battle of ideas, encourage it, and engage in it – openly, honestly, and respectfully. As the chamber closest to the people, the House works best when it is allowed to work its will.’ There is no doubt but the will of the House will be to pass a reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank.

“I want to use [two] other quotes, and then I’ll yield to my friend, Ranking Member [Waters]. Jay Timmons, National Association of Manufacturers’s CEO, said: ‘It’s clear the Ex-Im Bank has become sort of a litmus test for politicians. Well, we have a message for Congress: for job creators and manufacturers, it truly is. You’re either with us or you’re against us.’

“[Rep.] Billy Long from Missouri, a conservative Member of the Congress of the United States, said: ‘We have enough problems in this country that we should be dealing with here in Washington, D.C., to come up with this contrived, flavor-of-the-week thing to be against. It’s a dreamed-up problem that has spun out of control.’ He was speaking on behalf of reauthorization of Ex-Im Bank.

“We talk about jobs, and there was a quote about jobs in the Caucus by one of the Republican Members who said: we always talk about jobs, and now we’re not bringing a bill to the Floor that will make sure that we expand jobs in our country. Nobody has fought harder to get this done than the Ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee Maxine Waters, and I’m proud to yield to her at this point.”