Good news for Boeing as US Senate votes to revive EX-IM Bank

After the federal Export-Import Bank’s charter ran out on the 30th June when Congress chose not to renew it, a rare Sunday meeting of the US Senate has seen a 67-26 majority vote enable the federal credit agency to now operate until September 30th 2019.
The vote was to advance the legislation required, though the Republican-controlled Senate will still have to vote on whether to attach this legislation to revive the bank, which assists US exporters, to an unrelated bill which relates to highway and mass transit funding. However even if this were to happen, it is unclear if the House of Representatives would embrace the bill together with its controversial Ex-Im provision.
After voting for advancing the legislation, Republican Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois said that “We are one step closer to keeping American jobs here in America and not lost to countries like China.” Should Ex-IM cease operating, one of the major problems faced by companies like Boeing, who depend heavily on overseas exports, would be a loss of access to loans at favorable rates, thus opening the doors for overseas companies to become more competitive through their own government loan guarantees and other financial assistance.
Many Conservative Republicans in the House want to see the end of Ex-Im as they feel it provides corporate welfare to US companies such as Boeing and General Electric. However the Obama administration and a good number of Democrats and Republicans in Congress are very much in favor of the bank, making it clear that it helps large and small US companies remain competitive against foreign firms.