Why pick on a senior citizen like the Export-Import Bank? The future of this 80-year-old export financing institution — which only 1 in 1,000 Americans have even heard of — is in jeopardy because of opposition from several key Congressional Republicans who would like to pull the plug and let it expire on the Sept. 30 re-authorization deadline.

Depending on who you talk to, the Ex-Im Bank is either a financial support that U.S. exporters need to compete globally — or government interference in the private-sector lending market, primarily helping big companies that don’t need it.