OMNI-SHOREHAM HOTEL, WASHINGTON, D.C. — Other than the employees of the Export-Import Bank, a federal agency that subsidizes U.S. exports through taxpayer-backed loans and loan-guarantees, the group most affected by Ex-Im’s contentious reauthorization this year are the folks at Boeing.
In the lobby at Ex-Im’s annual conference today, I spoke with a small crowd of Boeing officials about Ex-Im, including its reauthorization.
“We’re working all the angles,” Patrick Needham of Boeing Capital told me. The company is working with Ex-Im in its lobbying efforts, he said, and also encouraging partners and suppliers to call their congressmen.
Sure enough, Boeing recently hired K Street giant Akin Gump, the Obama-cozy Podesta Group and the Boehner-friendly Clark Lytle Geduldig, all to lobby on Ex-Im.
Kristen Richmond, Boeing’s director of strategic regulatory policy, even used the phrased “until we get reauthorized,” when talking about Ex-Im’s reauthorization. It tells you something about the business-government relationship when a corporate executive uses “we” to describe a government agency.
And the centrality of Boeing is evident throughout the conference. For instance, President Clinton, giving this morning’s main address thanked his former staffers who are now at Ex-Im and also thanked Tim Keating, now the top lobbyist at Boeing.
