Congress has passed, and President Obama is expected to sign into law, the Export-Import Bank Reauthorization Act of 2012 (H.R. 2072) extending Export-Import Bank's ("Ex-Im") authority for three years and raising its credit exposure ceiling to $140 billion from $100 billion by 2014.
Ex-Im is the official export credit agency of the United States whose mission it is to assist in financing the export of U.S. goods and services to international markets. In 2011, Ex-Im financed approximately $32 billion in U.S. exports, sustaining 290,000 American jobs. Because of the fees and interest it charges borrowers, Ex-Im is a self-sustaining entity which, since 2005, has returned a profit to the U.S. Treasury. Should this bill not be signed into law, the 80-year-old bank’s charter will expire May 31, 2012.
