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Editorial: Export-Import Bank vital, should be renewed

Sat., Aug. 22, 2015

Perhaps the disastrous week on Wall Street will help Congress refocus on how it might help American businesses, starting with the relatively simple step of renewing the charter of the Export-Import Bank.

The old charter lapsed July 1, at least temporarily closing the bank’s loan window. Tea party Republicans condemn the 80-year-old bank as a nest of “crony capitalism” contorting the workings of a free market.

Oh, please. We seldom hear those arguments when the farm bill comes up for renewal, and supporters make much of the harm U.S. producers would suffer if not given the assistance they need to sell into a global market where subsidies are the norm.

The fact is, subsidies permeate international trade, and taking away one of the most useful tools for American manufacturers looking for a loan or loan guarantee makes no sense.

Since 2007, the Ex-Im Bank has helped almost 1,000 U.S. businesses with more than $300 billion in assistance. The bank helped sustain 164,000 jobs in 2014.

A lot of those jobs are Boeing Co. jobs in Washington and South Carolina, and the Chicago-based company responded to failure to renew the bank charter by talking openly about the potential to move jobs overseas, where it might take advantage of the trade assistance other countries offer. European competitor Airbus certainly benefits, as attested by a World Trade Organization ruling in 2009.

The WTO also faulted Boeing because of state of Washington tax breaks. Ancient history, except it underscores just how important government help is when international companies are competing for sales.

But Boeing is only one of 237 Washington businesses, including several in Spokane, that have turned to the Ex-Im Bank for help over the past decade.

And the bank is good business for the U.S. Treasury. Last year alone, it deposited $675 million in profits.

Supporters had hoped to piggyback charter renewal as an amendment to a bill extending the highway trust fund for three months. The effort did not survive in the House of Representatives, where the tea has steeped much too long.

We are encouraged by a statement of support from Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who has demurred in the past. The threats from Boeing seem to have gotten her attention, which is fine.

Others in the House should take the same cue.

Sensational items like review of the Iran nuclear deal will consume Congress when members return, but more attention must be paid to urgent items like helping U.S. businesses maintain export levels in response to actions like devaluation of the Chinese yuan.

There’s much more to be done – our tax system all but invites companies to relocate overseas – but putting the Ex-Im Bank back in business would be an easy step. Renewal used to be automatic. Its lending authority was increased 40 percent just three years ago.

If the bank is allowed to wither away, so, too, will thousands of jobs.