The Progressive

NewsWire

A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Patrick Davis, (202) 222-0744, pdavis@foe.org

Omnibus Extends Ex-Im Bank for Seven Years

Authorization extension for the bank will contribute to climate chaos.

WASHINGTON

The fine print of one of the must-pass spending bills before Congress this week includes a provision that will reauthorize the U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM) for seven years. The EXIM reauthorization bill that passed the House in November lacked protections for the environment proposed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.). The board of EXIM voted at the end of September to provide a $5 billion loan to a liquefied natural gas project in northern Mozambique that will be disastrous for the climate and local communities.

In response to the introduction of the omnibus package, Kate DeAngelis, senior international policy analyst at Friends of the Earth, issued the following statement:

Congress snuck a provision into the budget deal that will reauthorize EXIM without any limits on its massive support of the fossil fuel industry. Congress seems completely oblivious to the climate crisis the world faces even as the annual international climate change conference just wrapped up. The Export-Import Bank cannot continue providing billions to fossil fuel projects that wreak havoc on the climate and local communities.

Friends of the Earth fights for a more healthy and just world. Together we speak truth to power and expose those who endanger the health of people and the planet for corporate profit. We organize to build long-term political power and campaign to change the rules of our economic and political systems that create injustice and destroy nature.

(202) 783-7400