captioning performed by vitac your loans, guarantees will still be backed by the full faith and credit of the united states government. but if congress fails to act, all new activity will grind to a halt and many americans companies, large and small, will find themselves at a huge disadvantage. this administration is fighting hard for u.s. companies and their workers. but a vocal few don't like our

government financing u.s. exports to foreign buyers. others simply don't get why america produces some of the best products in the world need any help at all. our role is to help american companies compete in foreign markets where financing isn't credily available or affordable. we give u.s. companies the competitive edge they need. i know it's dark in here but look around this room. we have quite a few people here today, more than a thousand. each and every working day of the year we create or sustain more than 1,000 jobs each and

every working day. last year alone there was 290,000 jobs, a record for the export-import bank. ex-im creates job, pays for itself and creates money for the tax dollar. we have created $1.9 to reduce the federal deficit. behind each number is a story about a business or entrepreneur trying to sell more of their goods to the rest of the world. i want to tell but one of those companies, a company i had the chance to visit in december 2009 during the very first hours of the first blizzard of that christmas season. the company is orville sciences out by dulles airport. they make satellites just like

there one. the real ones is about ten times this size that orbit the earth. it's the kind of satellite that's used so you can use your mobile phone, so you can watch any of 500 channels under the sun. i don't know but b you but can i still never find the single channel i want to watch. it's night to have 500 but i can never mind what i want to watch. in 2009, a british company was in looking for a satellite. they were only two companies that built the kind of satellites they were looking for. it looked like orbital had a leg up. but it had a problem, no private sector funding was available. so orbital was in a tough spot. they had a cutting edge product, a great price and a foreign company ready to buy.

but astrium had the french export credit agency and that package was tipping the scales in their favor and that's when ex-im came into play. orbit al put avante in touch with john schuster and his team, they rolled up their sleeves and found a way to provide a $215 million long-term loan to avante. orbital won the deal. today 300 americans have jobs building that satellite. and orbital is on schedule to launch that satellite in july from french gyana. we're joined today by dave thompson, the ceo of orbital. he'll be on the next panel talking about competitiveness. the company's cfo, garrett

pierce serves on our advisory committee. he can tell but the difference they made. what happened here is two companies competing, the french company got financing and export bank leveled the playing field. they went head to head on cost, value, schedule, reliability. in the end orbital won, the workers at orbital won and america won because this deal continues to spur growth through the satellite industry in america. last year we financed sustained over 4,000 jobs at boeing, orbital and loral. these satellite deals have a

multi-fly effect up and downstream. you've got suppliers selling parts to orbital and you have other companies making launch vehicles and communications equipment. this is the type of work ex-im bank supports day in and day out. i'd like to stop for a moment. i want to ask the ex-im employees in the room to stand and be acknowledged. can you all stand. [ applause ] >> now we have a sellout crowd. a few of them couldn't get here today, the rest are at the office. someone has to work. you know how essential ex-im is to your business and the business community understands this. so do most in congress. but we still hear criticisms of ex-im that frankly make no sense

to me. they don't reflect who we are and they don't reflect what we do. some critics don't think ex-im should exist at all. they think we're engaged in crony capitalism. they think we're peddlers of corporate welfare. really? corporate welfare? we don't spend taxpayer money, we don't provide subsidies or tax breaks. our funding comes from our customers and our customers pay all of our expenses. that charge just doesn't add up. ex-im makes money for taxpayers. that's not corporate welfare. now others say ex-im distorts markets because we pick winners and losers in within is pretty simple. we don't pick anybody. orbital picked us. our customer picked us. when a customer approaches us, we begin with two fundamental questions -- one, will the loan

be repaid? that's very important. two, is our financing essential to make the sale happen? if the answer is yes, then we're a go. no now, i have a new favorite newspaper in washington called "the washington times." it said the following: far from picking winners and losers, they guaranty they have a chance to have winners in the international marketplace. that's all ex-im does. we give american companies a shot to compete on a level playing field. whether they win or not is entirely up to them. now, for all the controversy about ex-im, you'd be surprised to learn 98% of u.s. exports are financed in the private sector, but that 2% that ex-im finances is still too much for some people. what our critics miss is ex-im

is essential in it markets we operate in. we're essential in emerging markets. last year we supported a third of all exports that went to colombia. just under 10% of the exports that went to sub sahara africa and 20% of all exports that went to turkey and india. now, some say the private sector could handle all of this. there are lots of banks with a robust presence where we operate. this is not a presence. just because there are an tm on the street corners doesn't mean there's a lot of money in the banking system. there's no shortage of worthy infrastructure projects in places like vietnam and nigeria to name just two but there is a shortage of good finances

options. we help fill the gap for very big and small companies that just don't get enough attention from banks. we're essential from multi-million, multiyear deals like orbital. and we're essential to small businesses, which account for nearly 90% of all the transactions we do. now, let's take a company called air tractor, a small texas company that sells crop dusters and firefightering airplanes primarily to farmers worldwide. air tractors has order to ship 176 of these airplanes in 2012, a record for that company. 40 of those planes are going to latin america. most of them to argentina and

brazil. dave ikehart will tell you how critical ex-im is to his business. here's a clip that appeared recently on "cbs evening news." >> it is good for the united states because it helps create jobs, right here in arlington, texas, we're a small, rural community but we export. we export airplanes all over the world and those exports create jobs in texas. ex-im bank helps not only create jobs but it helps sustain jobs. but especially in the economic times we're coming out of, job creation and job sustaining ability has got to be critical, in my opinion, to the whole country. >> dave went on to tell me, you

know, fred, banks aren't lining up five deep to finance argentinean farmers. and the loans that we help -- that's what it comes down to, manufacturing jobs, good jobs, middle class job. it's good for air tractors and their workers. it's good for olney, texas, it's good for the american taxpayer. we haven't lost -- i have it right here, a single dime on this deal and we've been working with air tractor since 1994, 18 years, not one dime. now, the reason that's important, there are a few who think that ex-im is the next fannie or freddie. i'm the next freddie. where do i start? we don't operate in one country, we operate in 170. we don't operate in one industry, we operate in dozens of industries and ex-im's historical loss rate is less than 1.5%, we make money for the

u.s. taxpayer. and we don'tans to wall street, we answer to u.s. taxpayers period. that's a pretty compelling case of what ex-im does and equally important to what we don't do and that's still not enough. some people just don't like the idea of a governor-backed export credit agency. it offends them philosophically. they say america should counter with tougher diplomacy, more trade deals p. you know what? i agree. so doesn't president obama. that's why this administration has aggressively challenged companies to create trade rules. here's the problem -- these things take time. wto can take up to five years to complete. that aircraft deal, we opened

negotiations in 2009. we inked the deal in 2011. it won't take effect until 2013. and then there's the trade deals, agreements with south chriia colombia and panama were all signed into law by ploresidt obama this fall but they took years to negotiate. negotiations with panama-colombia began in 2004. i'm going to put that in perspective. my chief of staff and his wife, betsy, have a beautiful 13-year-old daughter, julia. this is what she looks like today. everyone meet julia. she's in school. here what's she looked like when the panama negotiations began. in the time it took to get this deal done, julia journeyed from childhood to adolescence. in the same time export finance exploded around the world. so here's the takeaway. the rest of the world is not

going to stand down while the united states build as more perfect international trading system. they're not going to disarm. there are millions of people around the world that need jobs. china alone is working to create 45 million jobs over the next four years. they're not going to be shy about using export finance to put these people to work. and you better believe they will use every tool at their disposal for as long as they can and so will many, many other countries around the world. this is no time for america to let ideology triumph over pragmatism. we need to keep fighting so american companies are competing on a level playing field and that means we must keep ex-im open at the levels that u.s. exporters require. i've been in this job now for three years. the bank has been at this work for 78 years and one thing is clear, america has to keep

pushing harder and harder for our economic interests around the globe. and let's not forget what america's interests are at this moment in time. it's jobs. jobs in orbital, jobs at air tractor and thousands and thousands of jobs around this country. the types of jobs we need to rebuild the middle class in america. last year ex-im supported almost 290,000 of them. now, as congress ponders our fate in the weeks ahead, i hope they will realize that some of these jobs are already in jeopardy because of uncertainty because ex-im's future. last month julie martin told cfo magazine significant amounts of sales by u.s. companies could be lost if the ex-im bank isn't reauthorized at all or isn't

reauthorized at the appropriate level. last week i spoke with a ceo who met with my counterpart of korea. within two minutes of the conversation the koreans said they'd approve a deal and could double that amount if it was needed. this is very serious business. other companies will happily step in if we can't finance a deal. that's why i hope congress will ask the same questions our friends across the pond are watch persian gulf. >> do we watch as the brazils and china or do we have the national resolve to say, no, we will not be left behind we shall want to be out in front? >> that's the question. do we have the resolve to say no, we won't be level behind in this race for exports? i hear people in congress talk with the pride of our craftsmen

and spirit of the workers. i see it in businesses from coast to coast, i hear it when i travel abroad. other countries want to do business with us and they want to buy what we make. ex-im makes it possible. we give u.s. workers a competitive edge. but if congress does not act by may 31, our charter will expire. there are times in life when one day at a time makes sense. this isn't one of those times. if we want an economy built to last, we need an ex-im bank authorized not for a few months, not for a year. we need exactly what president obama is asking for, a full four-year authorization for the $140 billion lending cap. that's what we need to support hundreds of thousands of jobs across america. that's what our exporters need to help us compete all around the world. this is no time to disarm.

this is no time to stand down. we have to compete with everything that we've got. american businesses and american workers deserve nothing less. thank you. [ applause ] >> we have some great panels over the next few days. i'm pleased my former boston president clinton is going to be joining us. in addition we have chicago mayor rahm emanuel being sam cody, from nigeria we have vice president sambeau and many

others. i'd like to introduce a friend of mine, a woman who has been his key liaison to the business community and a woman who has worked closely with ex-im and has been an champion for us inside the administration and without and let me introduce and bring to the stage valerie jarrett. [ applause ] >> well, good morning, everyone. how you doing out there? you look fantastic. i'm delighted to be here on behalf of president obama. i want to thank fred for that introduction and for his presentation and for his amazing leadership. how about a round of applause for fred. i'd also like to thank the board members of ex-im, members of the diplomatic community, business

leaders from the united states and over 40 countries who are here today. good morning one and all. the american business community represents a few of the many companies who have worked so hard to develop the level playing field that fred mentioned. ray dziuk are -- zuckerman developed his company. he moved his business back to the united states, doubling the number of american workers employed there. it's exactly the kind of small business that can export to new markets but also needs support to take those initial steps. in june of 2011 servelift

received a 250,000 express insurance policy from the export bank and it was approved for buyers for ireland and for turkey. and as ray zuckerman put it, the bank's support gives us the credibility that we need to pursue foreign buyers. and he added extending credit makes us more attractive to our customers and allows us to sell to larger companies. small business success stories such as ray's help build the world's largest economy and strongest middle class right here in america. we know when small business owners like ray get the credit financing they need, it doesn't just help the company's profitability, which it does, it helps create jobs for american workers. it helps support other businesses in their community and it helps our country recover from the worst economic crisis in our lifetime.

now, there's no question that we still have a long way to go but each and every month for the past 25 months here in the united states, we have added private sector jobs for a total of more than 4 million jobs created. after the worst recession since the great depression, we are moving strongly and boldly in the right direction. and that's exactly why we can't afford to go back to the policies that got us into this mess in the first place. or to ignore our responsibilities as public servants. washington still has to work. that's what america deserves. because this is no ordinary time in our country's history, this is a make-or-break moment for the middle class and for those working so hard to get into the middle class. together we must decide what kind of country we want to be. an america where most have to work harder and harder just to get by or an america that remains true to its values, where hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded.

an america that lives up to the basic promise that no matter how are, where you come from, you can make it if you try. now, president obama firmly believes that our recovery will be driven by the private sector, not by washington. but it is ultimately america's businesses that will create jobs and ensure that our country maintains a competitive edge over economies around the world. but those of us here in washington have an important role to play, to foster the kind of an environment where businesses can thrive and grow and expand and hire. as the president has said, he shares the belief of our first republican president, abraham lincoln, a belief that through government we should do to the -- what we cannot do as well for ourselves. that is why in his 2010 state of the union address, the president

unveiled the national export initiative that fred mentioned. he set an ambitious goal to double our exports in five years, supporting millions of jobs in america. two months later at this very conference the president outlined the specific steps that his administration would take. so today i want to thank all you who are here because with your help, we are on track to meet the goal ahead of schedule and thanks, as fred mentioned, in 2011 u.s. exports reached historic levels totaling over $2 hadn't 1 trillion, 33.5% above the level of exports in 2009 and as u.s. exports and we are well on our way. again, fred, you deserve an enormous amount of credit for your leadership on that.

of course behind these statistics are real success stories. stories of businesses and workers who have had the chance to compete on a level playing field and see their hard work pay off. you heard fred tell the story about orbital and then air tractor and i thought i would share another story with you today. this story comes from osh kosh corporation, a manufacturer of heavy trucks. like most businesses they were hit very hard by the economic crisis and the recession that followed. the company was facing the prospect of massive layoffs. then in 2010 the export/import bank guaranteed a loan that enabled osh kosh to sign a $41 million deal with the republic of ghana. because of this deal, workers at osh kosh subsidiaries in washington, pennsylvania, iowa and illinois are still on the job building 100 firefighting

trucks and other emergency equipment for ghana. president obama stands solidly behind companies such as osh kosh and the jobs that they create. this is why he fully supports the exports-import bank's important mission and he stands with the business community and the workers who benefit from the efforts of the export bank/import bank. as fred mentioned, members of congress will soon have to decide where they stand. they'll vote on whether or not to reauthorize the export/import bank. let me be clear where president obama stands. he stands fully behind the reauthorization, just as fred said. there are some who assume that in today's divided washington congress will put partisan politics ahead of doing the right thing. that politicians will turn their

backs on the thousands of small businesses and hundreds of thousands of jobs that could be created through the efforts of the bank. so we're hoping that working together we can prove the skeptics wrong. just last week when president obama signed the bipartisan jobs act into law, he pointed out that we still have a long way to go and, as he put it, we've still got a lot of americans out there who are looking for jobs or who are looking for better pay with the jobs that they have and we're going to have to keep working together so that we can move the economy forward, so let's continue to come together and get great things done for our nation and for all of the jobs that we can create. we do big things here. and let's make sure, as fred said, that america doesn't get left behind. president obama has laid out a bold vision for america, an optimistic vision for america. one that recognizes that if

political leaders do their jobs, then there are no limits to the innovative spirit that we can unharness in our company. the business community is counting on members of congress to join the president to work together and put partisan politics aside. if they do, the export/import bank will be able to help again provide that level playing field so america's businesses can compete from a position of strength in the global marketplace and put those americans who so desperately need jobs back to work. in closing, i want to thank you for all you have done to meet your responsibility and for all that you will do to meet them in the future. and know as you do your part to create an economy that's built too last, president obama will stand right there in your corner each and every day. thank you very much. [ applause ]