Political Quotes

“I am very excited about the Kirk- Heitkamp amendment getting an overwhelming show of support. The reality is that if we do not vote on the Kirk-Heitkamp bill itself and pass it out of this Chamber, at the end of this month, the charter for the Ex- Im Bank will expire. This vote has nothing to do with the charter for the Ex-Im Bank. It does nothing to prevent the charter for the Ex-Im Bank from expiring. This is at a time when China and India are pumping billions of dollars into their export credit agency. This is at a time when we have $15 billion worth of credit waiting to move through the Ex-Im Bank so we create jobs here in our country--jobs for American workers--and we are stalling the Bank. When we had this discussion during the TPA debate, we wanted to have a vote that would guarantee we would have an opportunity to prevent the charter for the Ex-Im Bank from expiring. That is not this vote today. I am extraordinarily gratified by the show of support because what it really does tell us is if we bring up an Ex-Im Bank bill on its own--an extension bill on its own--we will be able to prevent something from happening that could have catastrophic economic results in this country.…”