NEI, business leaders call for quorum at U.S. Export-Import Bank

The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) recently highlighted the need for a quorum at the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank), which cannot approve applications valued over $10 million without at least three out of five board positions filled.

The bank has effectively been blocked from supporting U.S. nuclear manufacturing and exports, which puts them at a disadvantage compared to foreign competitors, according to the NEI.

Douglas Sayer, chief business officer of Premier Technology Inc., a small Idaho company that provides nuclear power plants with large components such as dry storage canisters for used nuclear fuel spoke with NEI about frustrations for small businesses.

“For us to do it as a small business and take all the risk—it’s a bridge too far,” Sayer said. “When you have to look at your own cash flow, your own projects and assuming all that risk on exporting, a lot of small companies aren’t going to do that. That stagnates or slows their growth, or keeps them from growing at all.”

Ex-Im Bank supported 1.4 million U.S. jobs over the past seven years and supported 52,000 jobs in fiscal year 2016, despite the lack of a quorum. The bank has consistently maintained a default rate of less than 2 percent. In fiscal year 2016, more than 90 percent of Ex-Im Bank’s transactions directly supported American small businesses.

“A large portion of the supply chain—whether it’s in aerospace or nuclear—is small businesses,” Sayer said. “Whether it’s a small or large business, it is still about exporting and that’s what’s important to our country. Let’s be crystal clear—that’s still creating American jobs.”