business backgrounder | economy
employers, employees tell their stories
“If we’re all making more airplanes
and making more beer and sending
it overseas, we’ve all got more jobs.”
The sharp political divide in Congress on the need for the Ex-Im Bank and no
deal in sight left hundreds of thousands of jobs tied to trade in Washington
state hanging in the balance.
— Ryan Hilliard, owner, Hilliard’s Beer
“A rough estimate would be that half of our export sales would not have
been possible without the Ex-Im Bank insurance program and the ability to
offer open terms,” said Dan Roberts, president of Manhasset Specialty Company.
That was the story Congress needed to hear.
So, AWB and its members devised and implemented a full-scale multi-media campaign, including videos, strategic use of social
media and relationships with national associations, to educate U.S. lawmakers on net positive of the bank.
Several companies, from Norwest Ingredients in Royal City to Seattle’s Lighthouse for the Blind, shared how they utilize the
bank and what it means to their operations, specifically jobs, in short videos.
Mauricio Contreras, a 14-year employee of Manhasset, said in one video, “we would not be as successful just being in the United
States. Going out into the world, to other countries, grows our product.”
In fact, utilizing the Ex-Im Bank’s insurance program and other services helped
Manhasset grow its export sales dramatically — from approximately 5 percent of
sales in 2003 to roughly 33 percent in 2015.
at a glance
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers
(NAM) helped AWB amplify the key employer and employee message to a national
audience through their websites and social media channels.
The U.S. Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank is an
“The attention that AWB and NAM got from efforts on behalf of the reauthorization
independent federal government agency that
of the Ex-Im Bank was extremely beneficial on a national level,” Roberts said.
two years, two d.c. trips and exports on hold
Action was the order of the day, and that meant moving the discussion from this
Washington to the other Washington.
In June 2014 and February 2015, AWB President Kris Johnson, Vice President
of Government Affairs Gary Chandler and AWB Government Affairs Director Amy
Anderson led diverse groups of Washington employers to D.C. to meet with the
state’s congressional delegation and share how they utilize the Ex-Im Bank to break
into new overseas markets and create good-paying American jobs.
helps finance and insure the foreign export
sales of American products, much like what
59 other countries have in place to support
their export operations.
According to the Ex-Im Ba