U.S. firms fear financing drought as deadline looms for trade bank

A battle in Congress that could shut down the U.S. Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank next week is already causing headaches for small exporters as they try to stop customers from defecting to foreign competitors and as export financing starts to freeze up. If the 80-year-old export credit-provider loses its operating authority, its proponents argue that thousands of U.S. exporters will suffer and that Washington will lose international economic influence. Its conservative Republican critics say private enterprise will fill the funding gap, calling the bank a source of "crony capitalism" and "corporate welfare" for big companies such as Boeing and General Electric.

U.S. firms fear financing drought as deadline looms for trade bank source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-firms-fear-financing-drought-051056198.html