Rep. Carolyn Maloney Rallies To Save Government-Run Export-Import Bank

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) on Saturday joined business owners and employees in a rally to save the Export-Import Bank from closing.

Maloney said the closure of the government-run bank, which helps businesses finance the exports of American goods made outside the country, would cost 205,000 jobs around the state and the country.

The charter for the Export-Import Bank has been renewed by Congress 15 times with little or no controversy, Maloney's office said in a news release.

But the charter is set to expire in September, and some House Republicans have called for the bank to be closed down. They have called the bank an example of crony capitalism, according to published reports.

U.S. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said last weekend that the government should not be involved in financing exports and the responsibility should be handed to the private sector, according to published reports.

Maloney said closing the bank would be extremely damaging.

"The Export Import Bank has supported more than a million private-sector American jobs since 2009, but some in Congress are refusing to extend the banks charter," Maloney said in a news release. "There are small businesses throughout our country that will stop exporting their products and would be forced to lay off workers as a result if we allow this to happen."

She said the bank operates at no cost to taxpayers.

Maloney was joined at the rally by Susan Axelrod, owner of the business Love & Quiches. Her business was named Small Business Exporter of the Year by the Export-Import Bank.

"From a one man band, we now employ several hundred people. We create jobs here, manufacture our products here, buy ingredients here, pay our rent here and our quiches and desserts are enjoyed here and abroad because Export-Import bank insures our receivables and makes it possible for us to continue to take advantage of new business opportunities," Axelrod said in the release.

Joe Schoonmaker of the New York District Export Council said there is no other bank or insurance company that can help small exporters at a competitive price as they open in overseas markets.

Maloney's office said private-sector financing for opening overseas markets is either "prohibitively expensive or simply not available."

The Export-Import Bank was created during the Great Depression in 1934. In fiscal year 2013, the bank approved an all-time high of 3,842 transactions with an export value estimated at $37.4 billion, the release said.

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