Hearing on Oversight of the Export-Import Bank
House Committee on Financial Services
Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions
Hearing Date: March 18, 2026
Bryan Riley
Director, Free Trade Initiative
National Taxpayers Union
Submission for the Record
I appreciate the opportunity to submit comments regarding the Export-Import Bank (EXIM) and the Export-Import Bank Reauthorization Act of 2026 on behalf of National Taxpayers Union (NTU), a non-partisan citizen group founded in 1969 to work for less burdensome taxes, more efficient, accountable government, and stronger rights for all taxpayers. More about our work as a nonprofit grassroots organization is available at www.ntu.org.
NTU is encouraged by the proposed extension of negotiations to facilitate the longstanding U.S. goal of eliminating subsidized export-financing programs, tied aid, export credits, and all other forms of government-supported export subsidies. The proposed reauthorization reiterates the goal of eliminating export subsidies and transfers authority for leading negotiations to the Secretary of the Treasury in consultation with the United States Trade Representative. The proposed legislation also calls for progress reports through 2036.
However, Congress has called for negotiations to eliminate predatory export subsidies since Jimmy Carter was president. Given the failure of previous negotiations, it would benefit the United States to successfully conclude negotiations in a more timely manner.
NTU encourages the Committee to provide oversight over EXIM mission creep that began under President Biden. EXIM is an export financing agency. But, in 2022, EXIM bypassed Congress and expanded the Bank’s mission beyond export financing to include support of manufacturing for domestically used goods through its Make More in America Initiative. NTU encourages the Committee to ensure that EXIM subsidies are limited to the bank’s export financing authority.
To accurately reflect EXIM’s taxpayer obligations, NTU encourages the Committee to require EXIM to report its loan and guarantee activities using fair-value accounting. EXIM assumes credit risks that the private sector is unwilling to accept. These risks to taxpayers should be accurately accounted for.
Fair-value accounting provides financial estimates based on the market rate of interest that a private entity would have to pay. NTU has endorsed the Fair-Value Accounting and Budget Act, introduced by Committee Member Ralph Norman (R-SC), which would require the Congressional Budget Office to include a fair-value estimate of federal loans and loan guarantees, including those provided by EXIM.
Reducing—or even better, eliminating—export subsidies would prevent abuses by countries like China and reduce taxpayer exposure to risks the private sector is unwilling to undertake. NTU supports your ongoing efforts to achieve this goal.