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JOB CREATION ON LIFE SUPPORTSteve Baas, Vice President, Government Affairs

Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce

Every poll taken shows that the number one issue on the minds of voters is jobs and the

economy. Why then is a federal program that has helped create thousands of Wisconsin jobs,at hundreds of Wisconsin businesses, and generated billions in economic activity for the state

currently on life support in Washington, DC?

Im talking, of course, about the U.S. Export-Import Bank; a rare government program thatactually generates taxpayer savings and has supported over a million jobs nationwide, most of

them at small or mid-sized businesses. The Ex-Im Bank, as it is commonly known, is the official

export credit agency of the U.S. This 80-year old institution provides financing services tocompanies manufacturing goods here in the U.S. selling them in markets overseas. Ex-Im is

prohibited from competing with private sector lenders or financing companies. Instead, Ex-Im

steps in in situations where the conditions of a loan or the stability of the overseas region being

served make private financiers unable or unwilling to operate. Here in Wisconsin, the Ex-ImBanks services have supported over $4 billion in export activity from 198 different businesses inliterally every corner of the state over the last decade.

Despite the Banks success, however, it will be put out of businesses unless Congressreauthorizes it by September 30thof this year. Why? At the heart of the current political

controversy is a case of mistaken identity. Opponents of the Bank have painted it as a corporatewelfare agency doling out favors to mega-companies like Boeing and General Electric. While it

is true that large companies including these are recipients of the Export Import Banks help, thetrue face of the U.S. Export Import Bank is not these companies. It is the face of smallWisconsin businesses.

The face of Ex-Im is Hampel Company making molded plastic products for agricultural use

worldwide from its home in Germantown.

The face of Ex-Im is Enercon Industries Corporation, also in Germantown, the worldsleadingmanufacturer of induction sealing systems and surface treating equipment.

The face of Ex-Im is the face of Maxon Industries, providing construction equipment all over the

globe from its home here in Milwaukee.

The face of Ex-Im is the dozens of other small businesses throughout Wisconsin that simply

would not be able to compete in overseas markets without the help of the U.S. Export-ImportBank. More importantly, the face of Ex-Im is the hundreds of Wisconsin workers whose jobswould not exist without their employersaccess to these overseas markets.

Its easy for politicians to create fat-cat bogeymen to demonize programs like the U.S. Export-Import Bank. But these easy stereotypes ignore economic reality. Failure to reauthorize theExport-Import Bank might put a momentary hitch in a mega-corporations economic stride, butcompanies like these have other options at their disposal to remain active in the world

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marketplace. Those options include locating to other countries or obtaining financing from

other nations who are aggressively expanding their own export financing operations even as the

U.S. stands on the cusp of shutting its down.

For dozens of small and midsized businesses here in Wisconsin, however, elimination of the U.S.

Export-Import Bank would mean elimination of their ability to do business overseas and theelimination of their ability to create jobs here at home. For these business owners and theiremployees the debate over the reauthorization of the Export Import Bank is not an academic

exercise or a political game: it is a matter of economic life and death.

The MMAC is proud to stand up for these workers and invite you to do so as well by going to

http://mmaction.channeldemocracy.com/connect/write?alert=1463and urging your elected

leaders to support Wisconsin jobs by supporting reauthorization of the U. S. Export Import Bank.

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