As a majority of the House of Representatives, Democrats and Republicans, came together today to gather enough signatures on a discharge petition to force a vote on the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, provided the 218th signature required by House rules to move the historic process forward. The discharge process has only been used five times in U.S. history successfully, and Waters’ signature removes a critical barrier to renewing the Bank, which provides the support and certainty American businesses and workers need to compete in the global economy.

Waters joined Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD), and fellow Financial Services Committee colleagues Reps. Gwen Moore (D-WI) and Denny Heck (D-WA) in leading the effort to garner the Democratic signatures needed to begin the discharge process, which will force a vote to reauthorize the Bank to the House floor.

“As the Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Bank’s reauthorization, I am proud to have been the 218th signer onto the discharge petition to bring this historic effort across the finish line. I would like to commend my Republican colleagues, in particular Representatives Fincher and Lucas, who have long wanted to reauthorize the Bank but who were blocked at every turn by Financial Services Committee Chairman, Jeb Hensarling. They did not give up the fight for American jobs, and I congratulate them for using this historic process to bring reauthorization legislation to the floor. From the loss of satellite contracts in California that may lead to layoffs for my constituents, to offers from our foreign competitors urging American exporters to bring their operations to Canada or overseas to Europe and China, there's no question that the lapse of Ex-Im's charter has already done damage to American businesses and workers and to our economic recovery. As I and my Democratic colleagues have been saying all along, failure to reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank will only lead to more damage, and much of that harm will be impossible to undo. With the strong support of the Democratic Caucus our actions today make it clear – a majority of the House and the Senate are on record in support of reauthorizing the Ex-Im Bank, and we stand ready, willing and able to move this process forward.“

For nearly two years, Ranking Member Waters, along with her fellow Financial Services Committee colleagues and House Democratic leadership, has leveraged every parliamentary tool available to secure a long-term reauthorization of the Ex-Im Bank’s charter, including the introduction of a comprehensive reauthorization bill to renew and reform the Bank. To better understand the challenges American exporters face, and to focus attention on the importance of reauthorizing the Bank, Waters has also hosted roundtable discussions in her Congressional district and in Washington, while also taking every opportunity both in the Financial Services Committee and on the House Floor to call for action to reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank.

Reauthorization of the Bank’s charter is supported by wide array of interests including organized labor, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, small business users of the Bank and small business suppliers who rely on the Bank to create jobs compete in international markets. Uncertainty around the Bank’s future has already cost American businesses in communities across the nation winnable contracts and stalled the creation of jobs for American workers. Without the critical support the Export-Import provides, many American businesses large and small have had to consider possibility of layoffs and shifts in manufacturing operations to countries overseas in France, China and Hungary and across the border to Canada.

###