Hoyer Urges House Republican Leaders to Re-Open the Export-Import Bank

WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) urged House Republicans leaders to schedule a vote to re-open the Export-Import Bank before the end of the fiscal year during a colloquy with Majority Leader McCarthy this afternoon. Below are excerpts from the colloquy and a link to the video:

Click here to watch the video.

“As a result of our failure to fund the Export-Import Bank and to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank, we are losing jobs, and we have lost a substantial number of jobs already. Speaker Boehner indicated in a quote not too long ago that, in fact - and he said: ‘There are thousands of jobs on the line that would disappear pretty quickly if the Ex-Im Bank were to disappear.’ Well, essentially, in terms of new loans and new products that could be sold abroad, the Ex-Im Bank has disappeared as of July...  Can the Gentleman tell me whether there's any possibility of that being considered within... the next eight legislative days we have left this month?”

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“Well, with that answer the Gentleman can be assured that I’ll keep asking the question. And I keep asking the question not to vex the Majority Leader. I keep asking the question because the Speaker and I agree: we are losing jobs. We are putting ourselves in a non-competitive position with the rest of the world. By not bringing something to the Floor that, Mr. Leader, I haven't counted specifically, I will bet you, however, that there are over 275 votes on this Floor to pass a reauthorization extension of the Export-Import Bank. And the failure to bring it to the Floor is not because it doesn't enjoy majority support; it does. And when it last came to the Floor, when Mr. Cantor and I worked on the legislation and brought it to this Floor, it got well over 300 votes. Now, I understand there are some in your party who don't like it. But, very frankly, we've got to get over because there some in your party don't like things that we gridlock the Congress of the United States and make America uncompetitive and undermine confidence in this country.  And so, yes, Mr. Leader, you're very tolerant, and I will keep asking the question, because I think it's critical for our economy, and it's critical to get us off this gridlock.  A small minority of the Congress of the United States is holding good policy hostage.”