Thursday, May 31, 2012

Top Story

Obama signs off on Ex-Im reauthorization

The seventy-eight-year-old Export-Import Bank received a lifeline on Wednesday when President Barack Obama signed legislation that reauthorizes the lending institution's financing authority to provide low-interest loans to overseas interests to buy made-in-America goods through September 2014.

"By reauthorizing support for the Export-Import Bank, we're helping thousands of businesses sell more of their products and services overseas," the President said. "And in the process, we're helping them create jobs here at home."

Conservative opposition in Congress to extending the government-backed bank's charter was reportedly intense during a time of lively federal budget debate and whether Ex-Im inhibits free market competition, as the deadline of May 31 loomed for its lending reauthorization that has now been raised to $120 billion and is set to eventually increase to $140 billion.

President Obama was a staunch supporter of the Ex-Im Bank as Congress tussled over its validity.

The White House released a statement on the heels of the renewed legislation stating U.S. companies exported $2.15 trillion worth of goods over the past 12 months – a record 36 percent increase from the previous record of 2009, saying "part of the reason for that success has been the Export-Import Bank."

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