Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called for reauthorization of the recently shuttered U.S. Export-Import Bank. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).
ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION) U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called on Wednesday for reauthorization of the recently shuttered U.S. Export-Import Bank. Clinton, speaking during a campaign stop at St. Anselm College, urged the U.S. Senate to act on a procedural move made by the House to revive the bank. The measure received nearly unanimous Democratic support. "For the life of me do not understand the arguments" against it, Clinton said. Clinton's chief rival for the Democratic nomination, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, voted against the bank's reauthorization in July, saying it provided "corporate welfare to multi-national corporations." Sanders, who describes himself as a democratic socialist, is challenging Clinton from the left side of the Democratic Party. Some progressives believe the Export-Import Bank, which finances foreign purchases of U.S. goods, mainly benefits large corporations, such as Boeing Co, and not small businesses. The conservative wing of the Republican Party has also opposed the bank, calling it an example of "crony capitalism." Clinton said the Export-Import Bank has become a "political football" in Washington and called for renewed bipartisan support. "Republicans and Democrats have worked together on this for decades, and it actually returns a profit to the Treasury," Clinton said. She noted that New Hampshire businesses use the Export-Import Bank, highlighting Conductive Compounds in the nearby town of Hudson. Conductive Compounds employees 16 people and half of its business is exports to Asia, Clinton said.