On the recordJuly 15, 2015
I appreciate the gentleman from Washington organizing this special order in support of Ex-Im. I will tell you one of the worst mistakes that Congress could make is not acting to reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank. Unfortunately, few people in Congress have been involved in international trade. For some 7 years, I was very active in international trade, got into it by accident in other businesses, but I have led delegations and represented some very big corporations, some of the biggest in Florida and the United States and some of the smallest companies trying to compete. I have been in every country in South America except the Guianas. I have been throughout the entire Caribbean, trying to sell U.S. products. I was in Egypt, the Middle East. I took the first trade delegations into the Eastern bloc countries--Lithuania, I went into Poland and Slovakia. I have seen international trade up close. I am telling you, folks, it is not a level playing field. It is very rough in the global market. Some of our competitors, the Chinese and the Europeans, were doing trade across borders, well, when the Americas were still in loincloths. These are experienced people. They throw their mother-in-law in to close the deal. It is a very tough market out there. To cut the legs out from our folks has consequences when it comes to financing. In business and international trade, if you can finance the deal, you can do the deal. Why would we do this?…
