Report: 12 "Main Street" Businesses Benefit from U.S. Export-Import Bank
The New Democrat Coalition's work on the renewal of the U.S. Export-Import Bank was recently highlighted in the centrist online hub Republic 3.0. Read the article below for more information:
At a recent speech before a friendly audience at the conservative Heritage Foundation, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) suggested that gutting the U.S. Export-Import Bank would somehow be a victory for the “Main Street competitive economy.”
The Congressman’s remarks would certainly get a far different reception in real “Main Street” communities across America where, in 2013 alone, Ex-Im Bank programs supported some 205,000 American jobs and almost 90 percent of the Ex-Im Bank’s 3,800 transactions benefitted small businesses.
More than a few of the small firms that the Ex-Im Bank has supported in recent years are actually located on “Main Streets” across America. Here are just a few examples, as compiled by the House New Democrat Coalition:
- FHC Inc., a producer of neurosurgical products located on Main Street in Bowdoin, Maine.
- Integrated Industrial Systems Inc., a manufacturer of metal rolling mills, located on Main Street in Yalesville, Connecticut.
- Jason Mills, LLC, a knit textile producer, on South Main Street in Milltown, New Jersey.
- Halcyon Manufacturing Inc., a diving gear manufacturer located on South Main Street in High Springs, Florida.
- Val-Co Pax Inc., a producer of equipment for poultry and pig operators, on East Main Street in Coldwater, Ohio.
- Diamond Power International, Inc., a firm specializing in boiler cleaning and ash handling technologies, located on East Main Street in Lancaster, Ohio.
- Estron Chemicals, Inc., a specialty chemical and coatings producer located on North Main Street in Calvert City, Kentucky.
- SSD Control Technology Inc., a maker of fence production equipment, on South Main Street in South Bend, Indiana.
- Midwest Ag Enterprises, Inc., a feed exporter located on West Main Street in Marshall, Minnesota.
- Roll-A-Ramp, a producer of portable access ramps, on Main Avenue West in West Fargo, North Dakota.
- Wenger Manufacturing Inc., a producer of extrusion systems for the food and farm sectors, located on Main Street in Sabetha, Kansas.
- River Valley Manufacturing, Inc., a farm equipment producer located on East Main Street in Burley, Idaho.
The Ex-Im Bank provides these and many other local companies with the real-world help they need to grow, support their communities, and create good jobs by selling globally. For instance, Ex-Im Bank loan guarantees enable NOW International, a small producer of dietary supplements in Bloomingdale, Illinois and Sparks, Nevada, to gain financial backing from local lenders for exports that directly support 35 jobs at the company.
And the benefits of Ex-Im support for larger companies like Boeing also flow to the thousands of U.S. suppliers and workers that participate in large company supply chains, including businesses that line the “Main Streets” of communities throughout America.
There are, no doubt, scores of government programs that need to be replaced or reformed. But the Ex-Im Bank isn’t one of them. Rather, the Ex-Im Bank is an efficient and prudent institution that drives exports and economic growth and supports good American jobs, all the while actually making a $1 billion profit for the U.S. Treasury in 2013 alone. If that’s not a model for good governance, what is?
Main Street America is already increasingly frustrated with Washington. Let’s not fuel the fire by eliminating worthwhile programs that directly address Main Street’s real needs.
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