WASHINGTON – USGLC President and CEO Liz Schrayer released the following statement on the House of Representatives vote to reauthorize the U.S. Export-Import Bank:

We commend the members in the House of Representatives who voted to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank, and stood up to advance America’s economic future. For more than eighty years, this essential American agency has helped ensure U.S. businesses compete in the global marketplace.

With every other major trading nation having an export credit agency, Ex-Im enables the United States to remain competitive with countries like China, India, and Canada. This vote supports American small businesses, strengthens our economy, and advances U.S. interests in the global marketplace. We urge Congress to take the necessary steps to send this legislation to the President’s desk.

As an independent and self-sustaining agency, the Export-Import Bank has supported 1.3 million American private sector jobs since 2009 and returned $675 million in surplus in FY2014 to reduce the federal deficit.

The U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (www.usglc.org) is a broad-based influential network of 400 businesses and NGOs; national security and foreign policy experts; and business, faith-based, academic, military, and community leaders in all 50 states who support strategic investments to elevate development and diplomacy alongside defense in order to build a better, safer world.