Obama pollster Joel Benenson argued Thursday the reauthorization of the Ex-Im Bank is an example of the administration’s support for small business.
"There's never been a fight over whether or not we want to make money available to small businesses in America who make things that we can sell overseas," Benenson said of the bank, at a National Journal forum.
The Ex-Im Bank provides financing to U.S. exporters to make sales that are viewed as too risky by private banks. But the recipients include a host of major corporations, like General Electric and Boeing.
Boeing, for example, received more than 40 percent of total Ex-Im financing in fiscal year 2010.
Ex-Im's recipients also include a number of green-energy groups; by law, 10 percent of Ex-Im financing must support renewable energy. Ex-Im awarded loan guarantees worth $456 million to First Solar, which allowed the company to essentially purchase solar panels from itself through a subsidiary in Canada. First Solar furloughed half of its 240-person workforce at a California plant this month.
President Obama actually once opposed reauthorization of Ex-Im. In 2008, he called it "little more than a fund for corporate welfare," at a Wisconsin campaign event.
BENENSON: The reality is that President Obama has cut taxes and created tax incentives for small businesses close to two dozen times in his administration, and they're working. We've had over 24 months of private sector job growth that are happening -- private sector job growth that are happening with small businesses. We have manufacturing growth greater than it's been at anytime in 15 years. These are small businesses. The reason is because we believe, unlike Gov. Romney, that to spark and spur manufacturing and small business entrepreneurship, you have to manufacturing and small business entrepreneurship you have to invest money in research and development, you have to take those incentives that allow them to take risks, you have to headache sure there's lending there. We just signed a bill that, fortunately, had bipartisan support, President Obama on renewing the export/import bank. We had to fight with Republicans over (it). There's never been a fight over whether or not we want to make money available to small businesses in America who make things that we can sell overseas. So I think when it comes to looking at both our track records and what we would do going forward with small businesses, there is nothing punitive about saving the auto industry