Senator Coons hosts head of U.S. Export – Import Bank in Delaware

On Monday,  U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) hosted U.S. Export-Import Bank Chairman and President Fred Hochberg in Delaware to highlight the critical role the bank plays in supporting Delaware manufacturers exporting products to developing markets by filling gaps in private export financing. EXIM supported $317 million in exports from Delaware, and is set to expire at the end of June.

Hochberg had the opportunity to tour New-Castle based company Voight & Schweitzer, a hot-dip galvanizing company, and meet with business representatives of Acrow Bridge, a leading manufacturer and supplier of modular steel bridge systems.

The EXIM Bank recently approved a $73 million commercial loan to facilitate the export of 144 Acrow steel bridges to the Republic of Zambia. That export is expected to support thousands of manufacturing jobs in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Massachusetts. The steel galvanizing work for those bridges will be done in New Castle.

“The Export-Import Bank has helped ensure that Delaware businesses like V&S and Acrow can compete anywhere in the world at no cost to the taxpayer,” said Coons. “If Congress fails to reauthorize EXIM before it expires, hundreds of thousands of American jobs will be put at risk. At a time when our economy is gaining steam, we need to continue to help American companies of all sizes compete in markets around the world, not make it harder. I urge my colleagues to act quickly and reauthorize the bank to help support American jobs, American manufacturing, and the American middle class.”

In fiscal year 2014, EXIM Bank approved $20.5 billion in total authorizations. These authorizations supported an estimated $27.5 billion in U.S. export sales, as well as approximately 164,000 American jobs across the country. It was created in 1945 and has been reauthorized multiple times.  It was last reauthorized at the end of 2014 and its authorization expires on June 30, 2015.