David Obey: “I stand here as a longtime supporter of the Eximbank. I remember in the early years that I served on this committee and…”

“I stand here as a longtime supporter of the Eximbank. I remember in the early years that I served on this committee and in fact in the early years when I was chairman, my ranking Republican member was then the distinguished gentleman from New York, Mr. Kemp. At that time he and the Reagan administration favored the elimination of all support for the Eximbank. We resisted that. We stopped the elimination. I, for years, supported appropriations for that institution above the amount asked by the administration because the Eximbank, we felt, was important in the effort to expand American exports around the globe. I take a back seat to no one in my desire to do that. I think people need to understand that in this country one out of every seven jobs are related to our ability to export or to compete effectively against companies who are importing. I do think that we have an anomalous situation, and that is what this amendment attempts to address itself to.”