Source: PRESS RELEASE, 9/8/11
 

U.S. Senator Kay R. Hagan (NC), co-chair of the Senate Textile Caucus, today included a key provision for the textile industry in the U.S. Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank Reauthorization of 2011. Hagan’s language adds a textile seat to the Ex-Im Bank Advisory Committee and requires closer scrutiny of financing to the industry. The language ensures that the textile industry has full representation at Ex-Im, which is tasked with increasing the export of U.S. goods and services to international markets. The reauthorization bill today passed out of the Senate Banking Committee and now heads to the floor for approval by the full Senate.

“I insisted on a seat at the table for our North Carolina and other textile producers,” said Hagan. “The textile industry has a rich history in North Carolina where we have more than 1,500 textile facilities employing over 130,000 North Carolinians. The Export-Import Bank plays an important role in ensuring our North Carolina textiles compete in the global marketplace. My four favorite words are 'Made in North Carolina,’ and I will not stop working until we see that label around the world.”

Earlier this year, Hagan convened a small business exporter forum in Charlotte to provide advice to North Carolina small businesses on increasing overseas sales of their products and services. Hagan brought the Chairman of the Export-Import Bank, Fred Hochberg, to North Carolina for the event that drew more than 150 representatives from North Carolina businesses and was hosted by Siemens.