Release #: 14.08
January 28, 2014

ALPA Calls on Senate to Increase Oversight of Export-Import Bank, Enforce Directive to Reduce or Eliminate Funding of Wide-Body Aircraft

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA), in a letter to Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) and Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) urged the committee to impose tighter oversight on the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) and Congress to work towards eliminating financing for wide-body aircraft to foreign carriers. The letter was sent in advance of a hearing, “Oversight and Reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank of the United States” held by the Senate Committee on Banking Housing and Urban Affairs regarding the reauthorization of the Ex-Im Bank.

In the letter, ALPA reminds Congress that the Export-Import Bank Reauthorization Act of 2012 (PL-112-122) directed the bank to enter into discussions with its European Union counterparts to cease funding for wide-body aircraft. ALPA writes: “We hope you will ask the Bank for a full accounting of the Department of Treasury’s multilateral negotiations on this congressional mandate and provide strict oversight to ensure that it indeed acts to substantially reduce—with the ultimate goal of ending—financing for wide-body aircraft across the board.”

Per the 2012 Reauthorization Act, Congress required the Bank to take into account any serious adverse effect of loans and/or guarantee on the competitive position of United States industry and employment in the United States. ALPA representatives have informed committee members that, to date, the Bank has not followed congressional intent.

“Loans made by the Bank for the purchase of wide-body aircraft have led to job loss in the U.S. aviation industry. The present job impact analysis of the Bank disregards the downstream negative impact of its loans on aviation workers and our industry. Transparency continues to be an area where the Bank needs to improve. Congress has long required the Bank to ‘take into account any serious adverse effect of [any] loan or guarantee on the competitive position of United States industry . . . and employment in the United States,’” ALPA stated in the letter.

A full copy of ALPA’s letter can be found here.

Founded in 1931, ALPA is the world’s largest pilot union, representing nearly 50,000 pilots at 31 airlines in the United States and Canada. Visit the ALPA website at www.alpa.org or follow us on Twitter @WeAreALPA.

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CONTACT: ALPA Media, 703/481-4440 or Media@alpa.org

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