SBEA Meets with Reporters, Shares Success Stories

On Thursday, Feb. 23, 2011, National Small Business Association (NSBA) President and CEO Todd McCracken and National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) President and CEO Jay Timmons, among others, led a roundtable discussion with various reporters to discuss the current political logjam on reauthorizing the U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank).

Joining McCracken and Timmons was NAM Vice President for International Economic Affairs Frank Vargo, Marlin Steel Wire Products President Drew Greenblatt and Patton Electronics President and CEO Bobby Patton. The roundtable was held at NAM and featured commentary from two small-business exporters. Both Greenblatt and Patton discussed first-hand the importance of Ex-Im Bank’s products and outlined the economic impact each of their companies has had due to Ex-Im support.

Following the discussion, McCracken was cited in the Wall Street Journal as stating, “Even if they’re [small businesses] only cut off for a few weeks or month from the export financing they need, they may lose their customer for a generation or even permanently as a result of that, which could affect jobs and economic growth for the foreseeable future,” said Todd McCracken, president of the nonprofit organization representing small businesses. “We think this is a very significant threat to exporters and our economy right now, the indecision we face around the Export-Import bank.”

Despite some arguments of late from more conservative quarters that Ex-Im Bank is simply corporate welfare, Portfolio.com had the following quote from McCracken: “Maybe Boeing could finance its exports without Ex-Im’s help. But most small exporters couldn’t,” said Todd McCracken, president of the National Small Business Association. “There simply isn’t another mechanism available to them,” he said.

As SBEA has reported, the Ex-Im Bank charter will expire at the end of May, however many expect the Bank to run out of money as soon as the end of March.

SBEA has been working tirelessly to garner support on Capitol Hill from lawmakers, and has begun compiling success stories and critical data underscoring Ex-Im Bank’s importance to small- and mid-sized exporters. Please click here for our two-pager summary.

SBEA is calling on all members to share your Ex-Im Bank success story with us.Please click here to e-mail SBEA and share with us how Ex-Im Bank has helped your business.