II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1546 

To establish an export credit insurance program in the Small Business 

Administration. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 10, 2015 

Mr. VITTER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship 

A BILL 

To establish an export credit insurance program in the Small 

Business Administration. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ensuring Small Busi5 nesses Can Export Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Congress finds that— 

8 (1) the Export-Import Bank of the United 

9 States administers— 


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1 (A) the Working Capital Loan Guarantee 

2 Program, which— 

3 (i) facilitates finance for businesses, 

4 in particular small businesses, that have 

5 exporting potential but need working cap6 ital funds to produce or market goods or 

7 services for export; 

8 (ii) provides repayment guarantees to 

9 lenders on short- and medium-term work10 ing capital loans made to qualified export11 ers, which loans are secured by export-re12 lated accounts receivable and inventory; 

13 (iii) provides a guarantee of up to 90 

14 percent of the principal and interest on a 

15 loan made to an exporter by a private lend16 er for export-related accounts receivable; 

17 and 

18 (iv) provides a guarantee of up to 75 

19 percent for export-related inventory; 

20 (B) the Global Credit Express Loan Pro21 gram, which provides direct working capital 

22 loans to small businesses for a 6- or 12-month 

23 revolving line of credit of not more than 

24 $500,000; and 


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1 (C) the Export Credit Insurance Program, 

2 which— 

3 (i) extends credit terms to foreign 

4 customers; 

5 (ii) insures against nonpayment by 

6 international buyers; 

7 (iii) covers both commercial and polit8 ical losses with a 95-percent guarantee; 

9 and 

10 (iv) arranges financing through a 

11 lender by using insured receivables as addi12 tional collateral; 

13 (2) the export loan programs of the Export-Im14 port Bank of the United States described in sub15 paragraphs (A), (B), and (C) of paragraph (1) are 

16 less appealing to small businesses due to lending re17 strictions on loans under those programs, which pro18 vide that— 

19 (A) the loans may not be used when the 

20 export product being financed has less than 50- 

21 percent United States content; 

22 (B) the loans may not be used to finance 

23 sales to foreign military buyers, with which a 

24 growing number of small businesses are con25 tracting; and 


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1 (C) contracts and purchase orders sup2 ported by letters of credit may not be used in 

3 determining the borrowing base; and 

4 (3) the Small Business Administration admin5 isters— 

6 (A) the Export Working Capital Program, 

7 established under section 7(a)(14) of the Small 

8 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(a)(14)), which 

9 provides short-term working capital, including 

10 revolving lines of credit, of not more than 

11 $5,000,000 with a 90-percent guarantee; 

12 (B) the International Trade Loan Pro13 gram, established under section 7(a)(16) of the 

14 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(a)(16)), 

15 which provides financing of not more than 

16 $5,000,000 with a 90-percent guarantee for 

17 fixed assets, or to improve a competitive posi18 tion that has been adversely affected by import 

19 competition; and 

20 (C) the Export Express Program, estab21 lished under 7(a)(34) of the Small Business Act 

22 (15 U.S.C. 636(a)(34)), under which— 

23 (i) exporters are provided with a 

24 streamlined method to obtain financing 

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1 tion for loans and lines of credit of not 

2 more than $500,000; 

3 (ii) lenders use their own credit deci4 sion process and loan documentation; 

5 (iii) the Small Business Administra6 tion determines eligibility and provides a 

7 loan approval in 36 hours or less; and 

8 (iv) the guarantee is 90 percent for a 

9 loan that is not more than $350,000 and 

10 75 percent for a loan that is more than 

11 $350,000 and not more than $500,000. 

12 (b) ADDITIONAL FINDINGS.—Congress further finds 

13 that— 

14 (1) the export loan programs of the Small Busi15 ness Administration described in subparagraphs (A), 

16 (B), and (C) of subsection (a)(3)— 

17 (A) are not restricted by the limitations 

18 described in subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) of 

19 subsection (a)(2); and 

20 (B) should be commended for their flexi21 bility, quick turnaround times, and the one-on22 one assistance from Small Business Administra23 tion personnel in structuring loan deals, negoti24 ating payment terms, and ensuring that the fi25 nancial needs of small businesses are met; 


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1 (2) the Export-Import Bank of the United 

2 States only has Regional Export Finance Managers 

3 co-located in 12 Department of Commerce United 

4 States Export Assistance Centers, whereas the Small 

5 Business Administration— 

6 (A) has Regional Export Finance Man7 agers co-located in 20 United States Export As8 sistance Centers; and 

9 (B) currently has Regional Export Finance 

10 Managers co-located in 10 additional United 

11 States Export Assistance Center locations that 

12 the Export-Import Bank of the United States 

13 does not, including in— 

14 (i) Arlington, Virginia; 

15 (ii) Boston, Massachusetts; 

16 (iii) Charlotte, North Carolina; 

17 (iv) Cleveland, Ohio; 

18 (v) Denver, Colorado; 

19 (vi) Los Angeles, California; 

20 (vii) New Orleans, Louisiana; 

21 (viii) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; 

22 (ix) Portland, Oregon; and 

23 (x) St. Louis, Missouri; 

24 (3) the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (15 

25 U.S.C. 631 note) increased the maximum loan size 


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1 under the 2 largest export loan programs adminis2 tered by the Small Business Administration to 

3 $5,000,000, which could cover approximately 80 per4 cent of all small business export loans currently 

5 guaranteed by taxpayers through the Export-Import 

6 Bank of the United States; 

7 (4) the export loan programs administered by 

8 the Small Business Administration and the export 

9 loan programs administered the Export-Import 

10 Bank of the United States are— 

11 (A) duplicative of each other, except for 

12 the Export Credit Insurance Program of the 

13 Export-Import Bank of the United States; and 

14 (B) under the current structure, competing 

15 against each other for small business clients; 

16 and 

17 (5) the Export Credit Insurance Program of the 

18 Export-Import Bank of the United States is a vital 

19 component of export loan programs. 

20 (c) DECLARATION OF POLICY.—It is hereby declared 

21 to be the policy of this Act— 

22 (1) that, should the statutory authority for the 

23 export loan programs administered by the Export24 Import Bank of the United States lapse, the Small 

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1 ness clients of the Export-Import Bank of the 

2 United States under existing statutory authority of 

3 the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.); 

4 (2) to create an Export Credit Insurance Pro5 gram within the Small Business Administration 

6 similar to the Export Credit Insurance Program of 

7 the Export-Import Bank of the United States; and 

8 (3) to ensure that small business exporters are 

9 served by the programs of the Small Business Ad10 ministration. 

11 SEC. 3. EXPORT CREDIT INSURANCE PROGRAM. 

12 Section 22 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 649) 

13 is amended— 

14 (1) by redesignating subsection (l) as subsection 

15 (m); and 

16 (2) by inserting after subsection (k) the fol17 lowing: 

18 ‘‘(l) EXPORT CREDIT INSURANCE PROGRAM.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall es20 tablish a program under which the Administration 

21 shall provide insurance for the exports of small busi22 ness concerns, including insurance against non23 payment by international buyers. 

24 ‘‘(2) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 90 days 

25 after the date of enactment of this subsection, the 


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1 Administrator shall promulgate regulations to carry 

2 out the program established under paragraph (1), 

3 which shall be, to the maximum extent practicable, 

4 substantially similar to the Export Credit Insurance 

5 Program of the Export-Import Bank of the United 

6 States, as in effect on the day before the date of en7 actment of this subsection.’’. 

Æ 


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