Bob Menendez: “In the years to come, our domestic fortunes will be directly tied to our place in the global marketplace, and those…”

“In the years to come, our domestic fortunes will be directly tied to our place in the global marketplace, and those countries that get a foothold today in the major markets of tomorrow will be the ones that thrive. If Japan becomes the major supplier of telecommunications technology to South American countries, for example, whose technology will become their standard? Whose spare parts will they buy in the years to come? And who will they call to upgrade their systems in the next century? Japan. But with the support of the Export-Import Bank, they will be calling us in the 21st century, and our kids and grandkids will be making the technology. That is America's future. The mission of the Export-Import Bank in this process is simple but critical: finance U.S. exports where commercial banks cannot or will not because of unfair foreign subsidies. If and when our trading partners throughout the world reduce their export programs, then we might begin looking at modifying ours. But in today's world, a show of anything less than the strongest support for our Export-Import Bank would be a sign of unilateral economic disarmament. This is about jobs. It is why Republicans and Democrats alike are getting up to support it. It is about American jobs that will feed American families, that will pay American mortgages, that will send the kids to school.”