Senate agrees to reauthorize Ex-Im as part of the transportation bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last night the Senate voted 64 – 29 to attach Senator Mark Kirk’s (Ill.) amendment to the transportation bill to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank of the United States. The Export-Import Bank is a federal agency that finances U.S. corporations’ business activities abroad. In recent years, the Ex-Im Bank has financed billions of dollars in harmful extractive and fossil fuel projects that worsen climate change, damage first-class world heritage sites, harm human health and contribute to severe human rights abuses; all while failing to address the energy needs of the poor.

Friends of the Earth’s Doug Norlen offers the following statement in response:

The Senate has a duty to the American people; to ensure that agencies like the Ex-Im Bank do  not squander taxpayer dollars on environmentally-destructive projects. By failing to do so, members of both parties have squandered an extremely important opportunity. They must now bear responsibility for the environmental, social and human rights damage done by the Ex-Im Bank.

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Expert contact: Doug Norlen, (202) 465-1650, [email protected] 
Communications contact: EA Dyson, (202) 222-0730, [email protected]