Transcripts For CSPAN Senate Banking Hearing On Export-Import Bank Reauthorization 20240714

This is an hour and 20 minutes. Today, the committee turns its focus to the export, import men come the United States. Kimberly reed was elected chairman along with judith prior. The nominations of the Board Members have been approved by this committee and are pending on the full senate floor. The United States exporters are able to compete very effectively in International Markets on the basis of price and quality. However, when aggressive foreign governments provide subsidies as a matter of policy or practice to their exporters, u. S. Exporters are placed at a competitive disadvantage purely because of such financing arrangements. ,ccording to the 2017 xm Bank Competitiveness report, chinese export credit agencies provided a more medium and longterm investment support than the rest of the world combined. As President Trump and other senior officials in his administration have noted, a fully functioning exportthanks the import bank has ability to provide financing and level the Playing Field in response to governments like china. Which can provide almost limitless subsidies from its treasury and place the u. S. Exporters at a disadvantage. Director of the National Economic Council Larry Kudlow xm bank noted that the is vitally necessary in the current trade environment in order for the United States to compete. And succeed in International Markets. Calling it a financial tool and a National Security weapon. During her confirmation process, chairman reid committed to focusing on strong standards of conduct, increased transparency, sound Risk Management practices and eliminating waste and fraud and abuse at the bank. Now that she has been confirmed, i look forward to hearing about the work she is doing and which still needs to be done to process the backlog of pending export deals and how the reforms that congress initiated in the 2015 reauthorization are being implemented. Implement it. In addition in addition, we will begin the debate about what changes if any should be included in the reauthorization for the xm bank charter, which is set to expire at the end of september. We have been seeking feedback from stakeholders, our colleagues in the administration as part of the reauthorization process. In the 2006 reauthorization, i worked on a number of provision to make sure Small Business communities have advocates to address their needs and concerns. However, the bank historically has had trouble meeting its 20 Small Business mandate in terms of authorizations as opposed to the sheer numbers of transactions. I look forward to discussing what changes should be considered to promote small and mediumsize businesses while continuing to ensure any risk to american taxpayers is minimized. Despite only being on the job a short time, chairman reed perspective is very valuable for this process and will be a critical partner throughout reauthorization. Senator brown. Thank you, mr. Chairman for calling this hearing. I am so glad youre here for whole lot of reasons. I want to think the chairman for his work to advance the board nominees. Weve restored the xm for quorum xms board quorum, which they need to consider the nominations and provide their expertise as the bank continues for operations. We will hear from the banks and banks new president kimberly reed, has been at work seven weeks. She is hit the ground, i dont so she has hit the ground sprinting. Thank you for that traveling the world promoting u. S. Economic interest. Im grateful the Senate Confirmed last month every single democrat in the senate voted for you. I can see the gratitude as each of us arrived and you walked here. I thank you for that. She was confirmed 7917. Brown cannot be here today for the hearing but for his support on all that he has done on reauthorizing and getting the nominees through. He is overwhelming and both make it clear. We are strong bipartisan support for helping american businesses and workers compete. Look around the world, there are now 109 export credit agencies that supportograms foreign nonu. S. Manufacturers and every other nation has been aggressively helping their Companies Win sales and the jobs that come with them. Jobs that could be in the United States if xm had been functioning the past four years and it was not functioning because of this president and this Vice President and this republican majority not wanting to move forward. China has multiple expert credit export credit agencies in a 2017 chinas two official credit agencies provided one third of the worlds medium and longterm export credit. Chinese export Credit Agency activities are key to their plans for chinese infrastructure throughout asia, africa and roade under their belt and initiative. Senators or anyone else who travels in any of those continents see the chinese presence. Chinese provided more than 500 billion in insurance to build belt and road projects just in the last five or six years. China is far from alone, the term weaponization is used to describe what european nations are doing to make their export credit agencies more aggressive, more flexible and more proactive. If congress is serious about assuring american businesses and competitiveness, we must have a robust export Credit Agency. We all know what happened in congress in 2015 during the last debate on reauthorizing the bank. A small group of components by far right special interest tried to kill the bank altogether and when that didnt work i think his work ono on this, when that did not work, they decided to block all nominees in all transactions greater the 10 million. That had real consequences for businesses and workers, the amount of jobs that have supported drought for 164,234,000. 164,000 tofrom 34,000 while the bank was hobbled. I had to dozens of Ohio Companies, the Large Companies they were supply change companies, many id never heard of. Dozens of Ohio Companies come to me representing thousands and thousands of jobs that cannot deliver because of the inability to pass this. The obstruction hurt ohio manufacturers. Ohio Companies Exported 400 million in credits and products using xm credit assistance. That amount has been cut in half. Reed, the work you have to do to make up for that. We need to provide the bank a reauthorization of seven years or longer if the house is done. American exporters, critically Small Businesses need a reliable partner. Cannots in when insurers the greatest pain will be felt not by boeing in the big guys but Small Businesses including the Small Businesses that form the supply chain for the larger companies. Last year, xm initiated 2. 2 billion of authorization that supports Small Businesses, 315 Small Business exporters Small Business products for the first time. Congress must increase the Bank Authorization limit or exposure cap which is currently set at 135 billion. Xm must be ready to assist new transactions. Finally, mr. Chairman, a renewed bank must be dedicated to transparency and accountability, xm has risks with the associated with the transactions, as we see from its extremely low default rate. It must continue to be vigilant in preventing fraud. The bank must also be vigorous in complying with requirements set out for the bank to monitor and mitigate environmental and social impacts of product who receive financing. President reed and the new board have taken a long overdue step of finishing the implementation of the reforms of the 2015 export reauthorization and thank you for that. I look forward, madam president , to hearing about that. If President Trump and republicans in congress are serious about helping american manufacturers after years of obstruction, they need to work with us to authorize the bank before the end of september. I urge my colleagues to visit the businesses in ohio or ortana or rhode island pennsylvania or idaho into the and see the work around the country the xm is doing. We have a choice. Do we care about these businesses . Do we want to promote American Manufacturing in American Workers or do you care more about extreme special interest. The choice is ours. Thank you. Thank you. As i indicated, we are joined today by the honorable kimberly a. Reed, the president and chairman of the Export Import Bank of the United States. I thank you for joining the committee this morning. Reed, you may proceed. Good morning. Thank you for reminding me for testify exactly seven weeks after i was sworn in as president and chairman of the Exportimport Bank of the United States. This is my third time to come before this committee. I have taken our conversations over the past two years to heart. Under my leadership, it is a new day for xm. Im committed to working with you to transform this agency. Let me set the stage by sharing my priorities that i relate to, related to my nearly 400 dedicated xm colleagues on day one. Im committed to fully opening, reforming, reauthorizing xm in providing positive results for American Workers and businesses while protecting taxpayers so we can better compete with countries like china. As i have testified, i am prioritizing Small Business. Since my first day, we have approved 260 Small Business authorizations and that was 49 days ago. We will build on this success, such as with agriculture exports. President trump understands the xm supports his agenda of creating jobs and bringing manufacturing back to the usa. He asked me to fight to give American Workers a level Playing Field and to expand foreign markets for American Made goods. Xm advances u. S. Strategic interest around the world. It is a tool in our economic and National Security toolbox at a time when global competition has never been more intense. Today, xm offers a full range of financing only as a lender of last resort. Xm is self financing because of charges to the international customers. After covering costs, xm has sent 10 billion to the u. S. Treasury since 1992. Xm had a default rate of less than. 5 over the past decade because of the diligence that goes into the review and the structuring of these transactions. With nearly 40 billion in the pipeline and more applications on the way, xm staff estimates 20 billion in transactions will be presented to the board for consideration in our first year of full functionality. We must be responsible and protect taxpayers. Thats why im focused on reform. During my confirmation hearing here, i committed to increase transparency, strengthen taxpayer protection, improve protection for domestic companies, and sure xm does not crowd out financing options, and work to the reliance on expert Credit Agency globally. Export Credit Agency globally. Under my leadership we made progress over the past 4090s. Immediately after being sworn in i went to china for the annual g12 expert Credit Agency meeting. I made clear to my foreign counterparts my commitment to the transparency leveling the Playing Field and reducing the reliance on financing by export agencies globally. As an outcome, i secured support for the United States to host the 2020 g12 here in washington. So we can make our case more directly. We will be in discussions with a lot of allergy 12 colleagues between now and then. Outstanding the reauthorizations and forms, including approving a chief ethics officer. I have begun efforts to increase our Economic Impact procedures. I also value diverse, external feedback and advice. Reestablishing and seeking nominations for our advisory and our Subsaharan Africa advisory committee. This is just a glimpse of all that has been happening. One of the major challenges will be highlighted in the soon to be released competitiveness report which examines how deeply and widely foreign export financing has changed over the past decade. Competition is fierce. There are now, as you will see in the report you will receive tomorrow, 112 export agencies up in other countries, up from 95 when i testified before you in 2017. Today, china is the largest provider of official export credit, providing an estimated 39 billion in medium and longterm financing more than the top three combined virchow credit agencies combined. The administration looks forward to working with this committee and congress to reauthorize xm so the United States is fully able to act as a market oriented counterweight to china and other nations that use export and trade related financing and strategic and predatory ways with longterm consequences to economic and National Security. As i previously testified, the United States will not unilaterally disarm. In closing, i want to thank President Trump for his support. The president told me the world needs to see the products stamped with the four beautiful words made in the usa. They need congress to reauthorize xm bank to make this happen. I look forward to your questions. Thank you very much, chairman reed. As we have already mentioned, we have heard a lot about china and the president , members of the senior team and many in congress about the opportunity to make better use of xm to combat actions by china that are preventing u. S. Businesses to compete on a level Playing Field. The reauthorization of the bank as an opportunity for congress to increase xms role. You discussed some of these aspects and just to further describe how you seend what role you see xm to play us businesses level this Playing Field. Ms. Reed thank you. It has been a very tense 49 days but it has been a great 49 days and i want to thank you for your vote. We have had a lot of discussions internally and a lot of discussions externally. I have spent time with 20 financial institutions, back to back half hour meetings that the where i heard over and over again, the u. S. Is back in business but the paradigm has changed and that paradigm, as we know, includes china. The world is looking for the u. S. To be part of what is happening right now and through reauthorization is the number one key thing we can do to ensure we are having us businesses of all sizes and all kinds our constituents in every single state that benefit from xm to make products and provide services that go everywhere in the world where there is a need. Toolovides a very special in actual backs where there is a gap in financing. We want to see people buying u. S. Products, not only for Economic Security but also National Security. And china is there right now, and i know many of you have traveled all over the world. They are everywhere. We dont want to fall behind anymore so we need to be there. You, and again, you touched on this as well in your full submitted testimony, but during your nomination process, you suggested to this committee your priorities included Greater Transparency and accountability as well as other reforms at the bank. Can you update us on your agenda in this area including which matters you believe you can accomplish without further congressional direction and which agenda Items Congress may need to address with reauthorization before you can proceed . Absolutely. Oversight and reform with other agencies. Sedate number one is chairman what we are doing it is a lot of work to come up to speed quickly but im constantly asking questions internally what more can we be doing to be transparent so the taxpayers are protected quicks we will be reviewing two key provisions the Impact Analysis provisions. We want to ensure that we fill the gap when there is a need and the things that we can do to help these documents that we receive internally so it is a thoughtful process i want to be smart about it but we want to protect the taxpayers so i will be looking for input and also work with you and will be coming back to with more on that but those are the key things. Also want to say with a 113 other credit agencies are doing to be at the Export Import Bank for 49 years and started as the godfather of eta competitiveness report and we are the only country that even looks at what has happened around the world through a report like this. So why we want to be transparent we also dont want to hurt us businesses by revealing information that is proprietary so i look forward to working with you. And her chief risk officer are now confirmed and appointed and we are working with them. Thank you we look forward to your input as we move forward with the reauthorization. And what we need to statutorily do in the process. Senator brown. Thank you. I hesitate to say president read otherwise you may show up to those president ial debates on madam chair, even the chairman likes that. [laughter] thank you for your decades of service to our country and american jobs. Thank you so much. You talked about your familiarity was small and medium in businesses so if you are a Small Business owner rely laying on the xm Bank Financing to those components that needs it for the deal what happens if congress lets the charter lapse the end of september how immediately he would they be hurt and how many Small Businesses would be harmed quick. Im committed to Small Business when my first meetings i held was a roundtable was Small Businesses from West Virginia maryland and pennsylvania. I wanted to hear firsthand the value. Thousands of Small Businesses not only directly but providing services to Foreign Countries but also through the supplychain benefit from xm. Without a quorum xm could approve the 10 milliondollar and under deals if it expires that would expire for every business in our country. Thats a very tangible impact if we dont do our job. Absolutely. The House Financial Services Committee Working on a seven year reauthorization the administration has not made their own proposal but is that a Better Climate . I understand there is more certainty but is that a Better Climate for companies to use xm financing quick. I heard loud and clear the world is looking for certainty so the longer reauthorization is a good thing. The house is looking at a charter for the trade rep secretary of commerce with temporary voting Board Members. I would assume you dont want those proposals but would you agree if the bank maintained that quorum then xm could have supported an additional 30000 jobs each year. A quorum is very important. Thats not my question do you think we wouldve had that over the last four years we would have seen at least 130,000 jobs each of those years quick. Given what is in the pipeline i assume of what has been approved supporting jobs i also know we lost 1 billion of applications over the past four years because the bank is not fully functional. Is that multiple billions dollars would have been tens of thousands of jobs. Correct quick. Yes. I am all for stoppings Chinese State owned enterprises. I think that should be one of the primary objectives if you want to get tough i would urge my colleagues with a Foreign Investment review act particularly the Chinese State owned enterprise investment for the economy longterm. Do you have any thoughts on instances to limit xm financing quick. Thank you. I know the house and the senate is looking at legislation right now and that could be a contentious discussion so i will leave that to the legislative branch. Good enough. What does xm need to do and what should congress consider to make sure they can maximize the night line financing among other programs quick. Right now we have our charter that allows us to do that. You dont need additional language quick. I believe that charter allows us to do that. Thank you very much and congratulations madam president thank you for coming by my office i enjoyed the discussion more importantly i appreciate your continued public commitment to the reforms that we discussed and in your confirmation hearings. I fully recognize that given the very brief. You have been in office would not have had a chance to implement the jet. But i do want to underscore why i continue to believe these are important and why look forward to working with you on these reforms. One of them in your testimony that the fact xm financing is not supposed to crowd out private financing and in fact is supposed to be the lender of last resort. I think that is wellestablished that is the way it is supposed to work so interestingly we have a controlled experiment in the xm role if it had been a lender of last resort and the consequences might be for a lack of xm financing because we just went through several years they could not do large transactions and specifically if you think about it, you would assume that the largest customers would presumably run into headwinds and the sudden absence of financing. In 2014 the last year from when it was fully functional 40 percent of the business and as we all know it basically went out of business. The charter lapsed than even after it was reauthorized it cannot approve not even a single financing of an aircraft. So what was the result . How badly did the largest customers suffer when it was no longer able to obtain financing . The answer is that in september 2018 before the 737 max problem was discover the headline was bowing factory they piled up what was the big problem suppliers could not keep up with a record pace for boeing planes without a dime of xm financing for buyers. Think about january 2019 press release that announced it set a new annual record for deliveries in 2018 but not one dime of xm financing. By the way the 2018 record exceeded the previous record of 2017 which not a dime was available for xm finance so what is said should suggest to me that it didnt look to me like they were the lender of last resort it looks to me they may have been the lender of first resort and in fact when xm was not functioning in this marketplace private predators came along and finance the acquisition of boeing jets all around the world so much so they hit all time records with the volume of their sales. Keep that in mind when you think about the obligation for xm to serve only as a lender of last resort. The other point i would make is that china does not have a competitor to boeing. Not in the widebody jet category. So it seems to me this is a great moment to prioritize another obligation in statute with respect to xm that is to work towards a reciprocal basis from the credit export agencies the wrist taxpayer money. One other competitor and its not china it is airbus. Their sales are strong, boeing sales are through the roof, it strikes me as a good moment to pursue a mutual reduction in the reliance of export financing on these jets. Do you have a reaction to that quick. As the import export bank under my leadership as i mentioned we will look at the Economic Impact. I will also take note i will not comment on specific companies they can comment for themselves. My job is to support our mission which is us jobs and do all we can to ensure we have a level Playing Field and can can compete all over the world. One more point there is another element to reform that we talked about to ensure when refinance overseas purchasers we do not unintentionally facilitate a competitor to a domestic industry so case in point i believe it was announced last year xm may have been considering financing a very large natural gas liquid vacation in mozambique there are all kinds of problems in mozambique financial incorruption which im sure you will consider but also consider the fact we have become in the United States recently really significant natural gas exporters for the first time. This is a new market for us. We are thriving in this market virtually unlimited supply of natural gas. I would hope to seriously consider the impact of this young new tremendous industry with tremendous potential as we finance a competitor on a large scale project in mozambique. Senator reid. Thank you chairman read. That has a nice ring to it. [laughter] the topic that has been approached we are in a Major International competition with the chinese. I was in djibouti and there were significant investments with a natural military post and what we have to come up with is xm bank has an overall strategy to help us Companies Compete not only in china but around the globe in your comments would be appreciated. Absolutely ive already had detailed conversations with my colleagues in the administration with ambassador light heiser and wilbur ross and talked with them and our labor secretary and many others including those in the white house. Xm is a special tool in the toolbox for when it is needed even before the ambassador began in this administration he wrote the oped with the importance of National Security. We will make ourselves be there the world is excited we are open for business and American Workers are to. Your comments suggest the need for a National Strategy not just an xm strategy but a National Strategy which gives alternatives to these countries particularly developing countries like with easy loans with great terms. You are pursuing to help this National Strategy who was the lead element quick. Absolutely. I went to south africa the present asked me to head the president ial delegation for the inauguration of their president and on that trip representatives from the usa nec and how honored i was to be on stage with the president of africa and heads of state and then have a roundtable discussion with our Embassy Staff they are not only from south africa but Subsaharan Africa. And i heard firsthand how important it is for us to get our products and services to africa because china is there. So we work with all administration colleagues to make that happen with Economic Security is National Security. I concur. One issue we are very much interested in a Small Business thriving to deny this in alternative ways so what will you do proactively to get the word out in conjunction with the strategy to be a competitor in a world market quick. Absolutely im delighted my fellow Board Members are here with us today to be charged to get out was Small Businesses and she used to work at opec she is smart on the interagency process and to be an effective tool in the role of development around the world. Small business is my priority i come from rural West Virginia. I have the endorsement of the Communities Association we want to work with Small Businesses. We are doing workshops , webcast i made a video that will be shared with 3 million members internationally. We are getting the word out. We will be doing more i will come to your states if youll have us there. You have an open invitation to come to providence. I recognize my former colleague. The xm bank reports on global export credit competition report said since the financial crisis over the last decade those other versions of the import export bank that Credit Facilities are weaponize to support their strategic interest you believe that to be true quick. I do which are weaponize thing their Credit Facilities quick. China, many other countries and i have met with my colleagues who have said the export credit agencies around the world the first act i did after getting sworn and was to go to china to attend the annual g 12 meeting. Tomorrow you will receive the update to that report the 2019 comparing this report to see clearly whats going on in the world. Is this because chinas use dwarfs all other countries at the Strategic Global competition quick. Absolutely it does more than the next three countries combined italy, germany and korea. They are all American Allies they are treaty allies as well. So what can we do to counter their use through our own xm quick. We have a very specific goal to fill the camp one fill the gap with the financing need needs. The best thing we can do is to reauthorize xm without a gap that happened during the 2015 reauthorization thats the most important thing we can do. That is what everyone tells me the outlook has changed and we need to be there also the usa makes the best goods in the world. And i would say many countries prefer our goods over others so that our workers can have a chance to compete on a level Playing Field with other products around the world i believe usa will be number one when it comes to quality especially National Security we want power, energy, satellite power, energy, satellites, we want the world to buy usa. What is the dollar value of exports that xm underwrites with china quick. I dont have that number readily available but the authorization is 135 million in congress is looking to increase that also a very specific subject to go through reauthorization we are pleased to work with you in the house to find Good Solutions for what makes sense through the initiative. Do you have any sense of scale a lot or a little quick. Not a lot. Where the main thing be the sale of aircraft quick. And Energy Things and Energy Products but our mission at xms us goods our charter does not allow us to discriminate look at the application we have a very good underwriting staff to evaluate everything in congress has set out the charter what we can do and cannot do their very few reasons why we cant deny applications right now. We cannot pick winners or losers we evaluate on the merits and on the risk of Congress Wants to look at that again we fully understand. I care about china and i care about the United States. So the Energy Business we do in china those are statesupported or state owned firms quick. Some are. Yes. This is a new day i think the president has brought some clarity the risk china poses to the country that we should think about xm in the future and the role it plays to support the statesupported industries we live in a world of nations. Theyre not that many we dont have to write abstract rules to apply to all of them individual nations that are allies like korea rather than individual rules for every single country versus china that poses a unique threat given their size and their economy. Thank you for your testimony this morning. Matter president i thought i was going to get to use that term more often so i was struck by the statistics of the competitiveness report. China extended 36. 3 billion of medium and longterm export financing while the United States provided zero. 2 billion that is an enormous difference even smaller countries like finland and denmark and hungary are getting several more times export financing in the xm bank we are listed 25th among all countries in this regard. You touch on this in your testimony but can you discuss in more detail the trends you are seeing an export credit other countries are starting to weaponize their credit agencies. We have very rigorous tests unlike any other in the world and looking at us content the flagships and things like that and other countries pay no attention to things like this. So you will see that the world goes like this and we are back in business we want to be good for American Workers and want to see every worker in our country to have an opportunity not to be denied because the xm bank is not there and i look forward to working with you on the reauthorization. What effects should on have those trends have on those exporters to stay competitive quick. I will not comment on specific companies but i have heard some actually taking their supply chains to other countries to provide export Credit Agency financing and those are jobs our workers are losing out on. Those companies can talk to you directly but that pains me. What keeps me up the most at night is september 30th expiration of xm and the best thing we can do to provide that certainty. As we consider reauthorizing how important is that we increase the lending caps so i can go more competitively with that context quick. I think the increase would be welcome. What is the definition of modest quick. There are discussions in the house and senate and those are appropriate. Have you had training at the state department. No. I just know the legislative branch. Those of us that are looking for expertise were looking for insight so we can do that offline. Sometimes people think about this but when we create jobs here in america in new jersey dozens of businesses export to new markets around the world. One of those Success Stories from cape may new jersey works with xm to develop an export strategy for the americanmade Seafood Products to get insurance credit for the risk to sell overseas as a result they could grow their International Scope very significantly they hire more American Workers in new jersey to do that and they continue to use xm services to expand their Global Business but everything is to expand their Global Business and to create jobs is at risk if we fail to reauthorize the bank. So what is the impact on your efforts to communicate to us exporters or buyers that now after years of waiting it is fully operational and ready to move forward if the date comes and goes and there isnt a reauthorization . It will be pencils down and we will send notification as we have now that we are back in business very sadly to those who are in the pipeline that we are closed. If that happens we will do all we can to work with those it is a priority of the present he has charge me to make sure we dont have a lapse so i will be working with you to make that as short as possible. I hope not at the end of the day its tough to generate an expectation to eliminate the expectations and keep the competitive cycle together. Thank you mister chairman according to statistic of the International Trade administration exporting 29 billion in 2017 from arizona being a part of the border state especially with mexicana mexico arizonas largest trading partner so how does the bank assist us companies export their goods and services to mexico quick. Our charter does not allow us to discriminate we base each application on her mission which is us jobs in the merits of the application. We provide services where there is a unique need as lender of last resort we have done business with mexico and many other countries and the congress is looking at our legislation we want to be helpful to fill those gaps wherever we can because i want every worker to have the opportunity in our country to create a good or service that is acquired by a foreign purchaser. I am concerned about china and their forms of cheating not only with the mechanism of a Government Owned Bank but also companies and subsidies that dont allow for a level Playing Field for American Companies. In particular do you have any perspective how china plays in Central America and mexico are there unfair practices to beat out American Companies trading in those arenas quick. Absolutely. As i mentioned previously, we are sending congress our competitiveness report tomorrow our capacity will look back at how the world has changed over the past decade. China is front and center in that report we know that china is at our doorstep and we want to be sure we are at our doorstep with our goods and services as well. According to the International Trade Administration Small and mediumsize businesses make up 87 percent of goods exported but account for only 23 percent of value many note many Small Businesses benefit from the opportunity to compete using xm products so what about the small and mediumsize businesses to take advantage is a great team at xm that are very energized brick right know we provided to arizona in 2014 and 2,182,000,000,000 of xm financing 177 million of that was too Small Business in my entire lot prior life i was at the Treasury Department and i spent a lot of time in arizona i did roundtables and met with the chamber of commerce and did a lot of things i know that you are very engaged as well right now for those opportunities. The best way we can help the Small Business is to make them know about us but also make it easy for them. I host a roundtable like my first few days on the job regarding Small Businesses. We look forward to reporting back to you all the good things we will be doing in Community Banks are an important part of that equation speck one is to ensure small banks have access to financing but those are already using it is her anyway to increase their value or opportunity for exports quick. The world is huge. And we need to be working together thats what i want to work with your offices to equip those local governments i will be making a video at the annual conference of mayors meeting to let them know what we are doing and to have more materials available that way i look forward to we can be doing as well. Senator chester. Thank you for being here. I appreciate your enthusiasm for the job. Let me ask you a few questions i dont have the answer so i have no political agenda i just need to know. Is your confirmed Leadership Team in place or are there more people to be confirmed . Three out of five Board Members including myself and two that are waiting for final senate votes. What about in the office itself . You talked about a couple peopl people. We approved our chief ethics officer. Anybody else where are you fully staffed quick. Im having to staff up from day one. I got it but im just trying to figure out where we are at half staff for 90 percent quick. Im doing a full review of the organization have a brandnew chief of staff. You dont need to go down the list just tell me where you are at. As far as staffing halfway there. When do you anticipate you will be fully staffed quick. It does take some time. By the first of the year quick. Absolutely. By the time we vote on reauthorization. Im working hard. You talk about the default rate being half a percent over the last ten years. Is at about what it was for the last year quick. It increased slightly to half a percent and the reason is a lot of Small Businesses are risky. Look unless you have a team that is beyond my imagination you will have some default how much money is half a percent quicks. Right now it is 60 billion. Can you tell me we have heard a lot about this, how much does go to boeing quick. I know a lot of boeing financing has been done over the years on and off books i will not speak to exact numbers but we have staff will be happy to give you those answers. I think its important for me to know from a transparency standpoint we just need to know. Thats all. I get it is fair business but it is our business to because these are taxpayer dollars. You touched on this a little bit but do you have a plan to encourage more Small Businesses in Rural America to have access to you or are you working on that plan quick. Absolutely applications are open for the advisory committee. Having challenge with the v. A. Hiring people we put up on the website so how are you approaching Rural America quick. I am working with usda because i care about her former. Sure. But how are you getting the word out . I thank you want to do and i want to do it but the question is how. Through the local chambers of commerce and local Community Banks. And any other suggestions. I would love to know whether it is a regional split. And ag exports. And with china quick. The backstop community corporation. Is the backstop to the Commodity Credit Organization quick. So if you go away ccc potentially goes away . Know. We help them when we can when they do not fulfill their role. I have a bevy of other questions i tend to vote for reauthorization but senator menendez did touch on what is important we dont know that demand if it is at 135,000,150 or 200 . We would like to know. Thank you mister chairman and president reed and those beneficiaries. That is a target from the last reauthorization charter. Whats the smallest business xm has ever helped quick. A Pattern Company that was pretty small i believe it had less than 15 employees. You helped them quick. Before my time we were providing them financing. And then to help every single one through the supply chain. Do you have a formal definition of a Small Business quick. We follow the sba definition. I will talk about for a Second Energy independent and doing that. Through the shale revolution we cannot use all the natural gas that we liquefy to sell it to our friends across the world lng plans are very expensive and you have contracts up front with foreign buyers to get financing. You will not get the financing if you dont get the contract. I support all industries and entries. You are helping companies to the detriment you finance at x and the export parts and equipment to places like mozambique building lng plans that compete with ours. We are not allowed to discriminate they are coming to us so for us workers to create a equipment to be exported to a foreign country also some economic tests that we do and in my testimony to take a hard look at that Economic Impact and i hear you loud and clear and every job we can support in this country. Between fiscal year 2017 xm pretty much came to a halt. Did it not quick. Except everything under 10 million. Do you think the xm bank is essential to americas export system . I do. It is a new day for me i want to transform the agency but we now have 40 billion in applications to support us job. What you think would happen to our exports if we didnt have xm bank quick. I have met with our competitor agencies around the world i had one tell me we love when you are not in business because we get your deals and your job. Would exports tank quick. I think xm fills a very specific role. Would exports tank quick. I dont know if they would tank. Would go down substantially quick. I think xm has a role to play i want to help every worker. Im sorry to cut you off but i have run out of time. But if it is so essential then how come between fiscal year 15 and 17 when you were shut down nobody noticed . Exports rocked right along i cannot see an impact. I attended the annual conference two years as a guest and that is not confirmed yet i heard loud and clear the jobs we are losing or have lost. That is anecdotal but you ran an operation between 17 and 18 so a fairminded person says lets go see what happened to exports. Nothing happened. So you may not be essential. I have heard loud and clear from around the world that is why the president has charge me to make sure we have this available we have received 40 billion worth of desired applications. Plenty of people want money. I get that. That is with us jobs and us workers. Madam president thank you for being here and i do believe the xm bank plays an Important Role especially in certain sectors of manufacturing and job creation in the United States. I support those efforts. As you probably know yesterday House Financial Services committee postponed the markup of the reauthorization because of concern specifically with respect to china and how xm cannot be subsidizing the china owned enterprises so my question is we work with us during the reauthorization process to make sure that any xm reauthorization efforts address the need to protect american National Security interest and competitiveness and comply with cvs quick. And now there is one ongoing effort by have concern about with respect to civilian Nuclear Sales and the threat of Nuclear Proliferation that is specifically the current administrations plans or efforts to export technology to saudi arabia which in addition to all the human rights issues and the murder of khashoggi has expressed an interest to obtain a new their weapon and has not implemented or indicated it has those safeguards against Nuclear Proliferation i know xm bank does not have responsibility to negotiate the cooperation agreements but has xm to your knowledge been involved in any discussions with Us Government Agency Officials or companies or saudi entities with respect to transfer Us Technology services quick. I am 49 days on the job of not aware of that. Youre not aware of any discussions they have had with such a deal. I am not aware of that. If you could since you are new but if you could talk to your team and let me know the answer to the question. I be happy to get back. I appreciate that. Because speaking for myself looking at the xm authorization bill, i will want to make sure that the xm bank is not used in a way that would undermine the Nuclear Nonproliferation goals and as of right now it looks like that is where we are headed for saudi arabia i want to make sure we tighten that down. Will you work with us on that effort quick. Am happy to work with you. There are also issues regarding transactions with respect to saudi arabia. The House Oversight committee has raised regarding particular entanglements with government officials and us Nuclear Companies have seen some mention of Jared Kushners interest in these transactions go what process does the bank go through when it reviews applications to make sure any export transaction the financing does not have a conflict of interest x. We have a very detailed review process up and you and approved chief ethics officer for quite look forward to working with congress to ensure we have everything in place on such a front and i would not stand as the chairman as the conflict of interest. I appreciate that so just to be clear of one of the companies in the House Oversight whistleblower report were saudi arabia applies for credit to transfer the equipment or services to saudi arabia your work with us to make sure there is Due Diligence and no violation mister chairman. Thank you for being here. I tried to use the analogy from the speaker of the house of North Carolina why xm is an important part to make real transactions. With the economic incentives i would love, i know it wont happen before federal law to say there are economic incentives so we compete on the regulatory policy or quality of life so the fact is those that are involved to put them together and at the end of the day at the bottom line i was hurt because those legislators make the bottom line work for those transactions but the export credit agencies would love to see us get out of the business and the economic incentive business with the Film Production industry in the southeast get georgia out if we unilaterally disarm , clearly there has to be a but for just that i believe i said this back in 2013 to be very clear it isnt the first choice for financing but the last place to make the deal work i hope will go back to producing what i think is reform to make this a political football much like economic incentives are at the governors mansions across the country go we need the xm bank to be competitive china would love for us to get out of business. Of course we need to make sure we have transparency to address the issues the senator raised and then senator kennedy raise but if we unilaterally disarm one of the things you do need to do is to give an answer to the question about why is it a big deal if you are not functioning for a couple of years cracks if you look at the pipeline it may not be that exports dipped much because of tax reform and other policies but with that impact it may have had i do believe if you look at transactions that did not move through you could answer this many employees these businesses what have been added to the supplychain in this transaction evolved which we know so i think if you focus on answering the fundamental questions senator kennedy asked that we have been asking for and look at other reforms we will get out of the mode to prevent you to operate provide certainty on the part of competitors to get the best possible deal then you have to be involved in the financing of the underlying deal. I hope you can get to those kinds of reforms then we will no longer be in the scenario to be an opportunity and will create a lot more american jobs. I want your commitment not just to tweak around the edges but that initiative to give Greater Transparency as part of the process and then come back to say these all have this Economic Impact in those reasonable people to keep it functioning and incidentally. Thank you. We will do that. Thank you for being here today the Export Import Bank ensures arizona businesses can compete to help finance and ensure the buyers and levels the Playing Field including American Manufacturing and strengthens the economy in the past five years they greenlighted 2 billion a verizon exports for good arizona jobs and as we know this expires the end of september 1 of my Top Priorities is to build a Bipartisan Coalition to provide for a longterm renewal recently to ensure that the bank can approve bigger deals as well as those reforms passed in 2015 to modernize the operations and have accountability to taxpayer taxpayers. Congratulations thank you for being here today have a lot of work ahead of you do you kno know, check could not consider during that time. We perceived 40 billion of applications in the pipeline we lost 20 billion in deals spirit what is the largest amount of uncertainty for us businesses not to account the missed opportunities is it fair to say this type of Business Uncertainty gives foreign competitors like the chinese and unfair advantage over our country. Yes. So we are not the only country that has xm dont china and all the other biggest competitors have their own the competitiveness of showing there are 113 agencies so testifying at my first confirmation hearing in 2017 there were 95 more countries are using it in weaponize ways and more are creating them. I have been told firsthand we love that xm was out of business because we got your deals and your jobs. A china specifically would you say the multiple export credit agencies have a larger or smaller footprint than the xm bank. Much larger. Larger than the next three combined which are italy and korea and germany that thats important for members of the senate to understand that export credit agencies are foreign markets i appreciate we dont want to skew the market but i am a practical person because export credit exist other countries have them. They are real and in business we should deal in reality if we get rid of our Export Import Bank in china keeps theirs and us businesses and workers will suffer the consequences mp at a disadvantage so do you have any reason to believe if we got rid of xm today i dont think so. I dont either. We cannot keep Good American jobs captive to the whims with this bodys own dysfunction we have got to do a new ex im into it now i hear from arizonans every single day going from one manufactured crisis to the next because they work hard and take care of business and frankly they wonder why congress cannot do the same so i hope he is a Committee Work together to have a longterm renewal so businesses in my state can compete and grow. Thank you for this time and i yelled back. This concludes the questions for todays hearing chairman we appreciate you being here with us and the work you are doing at the ex im bank we understand the importance of a timely reauthorization that we are all committed to assuring that happened. We have some hurdles. The politics are still strong here in the senate but we understand the importance of the objective. If you submit for the record that is due by tuesday jul july 9th respond as promptly as you can and again we thank you for being here. We are adjourned and again we thank you for being here. We are adjourned and again we thank you for being here. We are adjourned. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] journal liveington at 7 00 eastern this morning. Join the discussion. Tonight, the National Education association hosts a forum with several democratic president ial candidates, focusing on issues that impact students, educators and schools. It takes place in houston. 8 p. M. Eastern on cspan. Heres some featured programming this Holiday Weekend on book tv. Today at 7 20 p. M. Eastern, the late historian on reports from the south in the lead up to the civil war in his book, spying on the south. In the opening episode of my travels i describe a woman in a bar in West Virginia who essentially sees right through me and says, i get it. You are a yankee boy down here spying on us hillbillies. [laughter] the title was also a joke on myself. Saturday at 1 p. M. Eastern in marieok, afterlife, Alice Johnson reflects on her time in prison before President Trumps pardon in 2018. Years, just imagine, i wenas told i would only leave prison as a corpse. That i would take my dying breath in prison. Do you think that was a recipe for out . 9 00 eastern on afterwards, we examine the rise in violence committed by young men around the world. When we talk about, other forms of violence, when a White Supremacists attacks a mosque, often the narrative goes back to rhetoric. We have politicians saying this in this and that is why someone hates immigrants and muslims and i do think rhetoric is important to understanding these things, so if that is the case, a billiondollar industry built on young black men talking about guns is that rhetoric not relevant to the homicide rate in this country . Watch book tv all weekend on cspan two. Historian,old war different ideologies and so forth, and friends of mine emailed me and said, why do you want to tackle this issue . Marriage and family . You are jumping into the culture war. Do you really want to do this . Ger will be our guest sunday. His latest book is, the divine plan. Down,titles include, take and the crusader, as well as books about the spiritual lives about ronald reagan, george w. Bush and hillary clinton. Join us with tweets and facebook questions. Watch indepth live sunday on book tv. Be sure to watch indepth the next month with lee edwards. Watch book tv, every weekend on cspan 2. Sunday on q a. After nixons last press conference, 10 years andr, 49 state landslide, then it all can the part. Came apart. Pat buchanan, who served as a Senior Advisor to president nixon discusses his book. I wrote him a memo saying, youre going to have to keep the tapes, conversations with dean, i did not think they would be that damaging to us. Keep the tapes. The stuff you need you really should take. Take the rest out and burn it and shutdown the special Prosecutors Office now before this thing grows into a monster. I didnt know it at the time but othersad called in the and entertain the idea, that he should burn the tapes. They said it would be obstruction of justice. I didnt recommend burning subpoenaed tapes. Second, there has property, it was executive privilege and everyone knew it. If you just set in effect, impeachment be dammed, i think he wouldve moved through it. President nixon said in his memoirs if he had burned the do,s, as i had urged him to he would have survived. I think that is right. Sunday night at 8 00 eastern on cspans q a. Next, joe biden speaks to voters and supporters in marshalltown,