December 11 - UTC Overseas has expressed its thanks to industry colleagues, supporters and associates for their combined efforts in winning Congressional reauthorisation of the US Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im).
UTC executive vice president Marco Poisler said that the support was widespread and non-partisan, and the success of the effort was reflected in the final strong votes of support in both the House and Senate.
William Schubert, former MARAD administrator and now president of Houston, Texas based International Trade and Transportation, commented on the renewal: "The successful reauthorisation of the Ex-Im Bank represents a major victory for US exporters and service providers.
"This success would not have been possible without the grass roots support from literally thousands of US companies. In this regard, UTC played a critical role in supporting the efforts of the nationwide industry coalition to reauthorise the Ex-Im Bank."
UTC president and ceo Brian Posthumus added that it was "especially heartening" to hear that Congress also supported a multi-year budget for the bank to end uncertainty over its future.
In a letter to customers and stakeholders, chairman and president of the Ex-Im bank, Fred Hochberg, said that the organisation was working hard to resume normal operations. He also advised that, under changes included in the reauthorisation legislation, all transactions involving loan guarantees of over USD10 million will require approval by the bank's board of directors.
However, Hochberg noted that the Senate still must confirm sufficient additional members of the board to reconstitute a quorum. According to UTC, there are currently three vacancies on the five-member board and the White House has pledged to send nominations to fill them shortly.
Poisler urged bank supporters to contact the White House and their Senators to push for those actions to assure timely review of proposed projects and resumption of normal bank operations heading into 2016.
