Ex-Im Bank lapse sends 500 jobs overseas

NEW YORK – General Electric Co., a longtime beneficiary of the U.S. Export-Import Bank, is moving 500 jobs to France, Hungary and China after Congress halted the agency’s ability to offer new financing.

Positions now in South Carolina, Maine, New York and Texas, including some Houston-based packaging operations for gas turbines, are being shifted, GE said. A new agreement with French export credit provider Coface to back global power projects will trigger a shift to that country, GE said.

GE has been threatening such a move for months as it urges lawmakers to revive the agency, which provided almost $1 billion in credit assistance to the company’s international customers last year. GE says the loss of Ex-Im financing imperils overseas sales of products such as diesel locomotives, gas turbines and jet engines.

The 81-year-old Ex-Im Bank provides loans, credit guarantees and insurance to aid sales by U.S. companies including Boeing Co. and GE. The bank’s charter expired June 30 when Republican members of Congress, who say Ex-Im benefits only a few large corporations that don’t need government assistance, blocked a reauthorization vote.

The expiration of the Ex-Im Bank has been a significant concern among Washington leaders because of its use by Boeing.

U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane, said in a statement released Tuesday that she supports continuation of the program only if it is reformed.

“As I have said before, I support a significantly reformed Export-Import Bank as part of our larger international strategy to keep America competitive and secure,” her statement said. “This New Deal-era institution is far from perfect, so we should change it to fit our 21st century world.”

Staff writer Jim Camden contributed to this report.