Congress creates fireworks by leaving credit bank on-hold for July 4th break

JEFFERSONVILLE, IN (WAVE) - Typical of his training as a mechanical engineer, Paul Perkins is clear and direct about the business of Amatrol, Inc., the company his father started in Clarksville almost 34 years ago.

"We design and manufacture learning systems for technical education," Perkins said. "Doing machining and welding and assembly and electronic wiring. We have programmers that develop our software."

Some of it is three-dimensional. Training the trainers.

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Amatrol has 157 employees, all working day-shift. It never has had a layoff, Perkins said.

Business has grown exponentially the past several years; 50 percent in 2014 alone.

Three flags fly at its entrance off of Centennial Boulevard in the North Point Business Park; The Stars and Stripes, Indiana's state flag and an "E" banner, representing the U.S. Commerce Department's President's Award for promoting exports.

"The international market is an area that we have to be very strong in," Perkins said. "Two-thirds of the world's goods are bought outside the United States."

Amatrol has inroads into more than two-dozen countries without the aid of the Export-Import Bank, a self-funded government program more than three-quarters of a century old. But some foreign customers want to use Ex-Im, Perkins said.

"The Ex-Im Bank gives more than 166 Indiana companies assurances that their transaction is gonna go as expected," said Wendy Dant Chesser, executive director of the economic development promotional agency One Southern Indiana. "A company needs assurances, especially if they're small."

But Congress left for the Independence Day break without deciding whether to reauthorize the self-funding Ex-Im program.

"I used to be a supporter of the Ex-Im bank, I'm not any longer," said U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky.) "It's been derided by a number of people as sort of corporate welfare."

Ex-Im's loan or credit guarantees typically are larger than those it has offered to help most Kentucky companies. Louisville's Jordan Technologies, now subsidiary of a Texas-based company, has received aid worth more than $10.8 million, according to Ex-Im records. Eliabethtown's Accumetric LLC, more than $4.286 million. Brown-Forman Beverage, about $624,000

"Ninety of those (helped) have been small businesses," Chesser said.

"We're not getting the loan," Perkins said. "Our customers are getting the loan, and they're paying that money back."

Absent Ex-Im aid, customers will get the credit and equipment they need from Amatrol's competitors in other countries, Perkins said.

Foreign buyers, Amatrol's Perkins said, will search for loans and suppliers somewhere else.

"I'm not gonna prevent them from getting a vote," McConnell said. "I think the Ex-Im have enough votes in the House and Senate to be passed.

Amatrol has added 40,000 square feet to its facility, which was built 10 years ago. It's still hiring, but delays carry consequences.

"Instead of seeing something this next year, it could be two to three or four years out," Perkins said.

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