The US Export-Import Bank is back in business after Congress overwhelmingly approved a bill reviving the credit agency, although larger loans will have to wait until the Senate approves the appointment of a new board member.
Senators voted 83 to 16 to approve a US$305bn highway bill that renews Ex-Im’s charter through 30 September 2019, soon after the House of Representatives cleared it by a margin of 359 to 65. President Obama then signed Ex-Im’s reauthorisation into law on 4 December.
The US Export-Import Bank is back in business after Congress overwhelmingly approved a bill reviving the credit agency, although larger loans will have to wait until the Senate approves the appointment of a new board member.
Senators voted 83 to 16 to approve a US$305bn highway bill that renews Ex-Im’s charter through 30 September 2019, soon after the House of Representatives cleared it by a margin of 359 to 65. President Obama then signed Ex-Im’s reauthorisation into law on 4 December.
The resurrection comes more than five months after the bank was forced to shut its doors amid political pressure over its support for ‘big business’, forcing the country’s satellite manufacturing and launch services sectors to scramble for alternative financing solutions.
In spite of the renewal of the charter, Ex-Im is still unable to offer loans for large projects.
In a letter to customers and stakeholders, Ex-Im chairman Fred Hochberg explained that the terms of the new bill mean all transactions totalling more than US$10m now require approval by the credit agency’s board.
At present there are three vacancies on Ex-Im’s five-person board, meaning it lacks its three-person quorum that enables it to make decisions.
On 11 January President Obama nominated John Mark McWatters (pictured), a former staffer to Republican Representative Jeb Hensarling, to fill one of the vacancies.
That nomination, however, needs to be approved by the Senate Banking Committee, and Republican Senator Richard Shelby – a vocal critic of Ex-Im – is holding up the process. According to beltway news service Politico, Shelby has shown little interest in approving nominees, meaning large US-based commercial space players will have to wait a little longer before they can secure sizeable loans.
Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Orbital ATK have all pointed to the negative impact that Ex-Im’s closure has had on their ability to compete for contracts.
Boeing effectively lost a satellite manufacturing contract it had with Hong Kong’s ABS after the ECA’s charter expired on 30 June.
The two had been looking for alter- native financing options, and Boeing’s position will have been boosted now that Ex-Im is back in the picture. However, it is understood that the operator’s requirements for ABS-8 have changed in the meantime and it has recently invited US-based Space Systems Loral to bid.
Christian Patouraux, CEO of Pacific- focused broadband startup Kacific, told SatelliteFinance in October that it was open to ordering a Ka-band satellite from Boeing if Ex-Im was revived, although he suggested at the time that it would need to happen in a “matter of weeks”.
Commenting on congressional approval to reauthorise Ex-Im, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg said: “By reopening the Export-Import Bank, Congress has taken strong action enabling American exporters and the skilled workers they employ to compete successfully in tough global markets. We commend the bipartisan majorities in both the House and the Senate that recognised the Ex-Im Bank’s value to the US economy by voting several times in recent months to reauthorise.
“With these votes, Congress did the right thing for workers at companies large and small across the nation, including the 1.5 million workers at nearly 15,000 U.S. companies that help Boeing design, make and support America’s aerospace exports.”
