Speaking in favor of continuing the Export-Import Bank charter, from left, are Tyler Schroeder of Air Tractor, Don Nelson of ProGauge Technologies, and Linda Dempsey of the National Association of Manufacturers. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)

The House Republican leadership announced Tuesday that it would propose an extension of the Export-Import Bank charter through June 2015, the National Journal reported late Tuesday, but supporters of the bank said they would still work toward a multiyear reauthorization.

Republican leaders said they would propose the extension through June as part of the continuing resolution to fund the government through December 11, National Journal said.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, favors letting the bank’s charter expire at the beginning of the new fiscal year on October 1, but aides to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Tuesday that Hensarling had agreed to support an extension through June.

Conservatives have said the bank amounts to “crony capitalism,” but business leaders say the bank is vital for American companies to compete with companies in other countries that have similar institutions.

The extension through June would take Ex-Im out of the debate during both the September short session and the lame duck session after the election.

But firms that use the Ex-Im Bank to sell products said at a briefing arranged by the National Association of Manufacturers Tuesday that the short-term extension will not provide the certainty that they need to convince foreigners to buy products that need financing.

Linda Dempsey of the National Association of Manufacturers said it is vital to reauthorize the bank before October 1, but that NAM “is very focused on long-term reauthorization.”

While Ex-Im’s financing of Boeing airplane sales has gotten a lot of attention, executives at the NAM briefing said the bank’s importance to small companies, especially those located in rural America, is not well understood.

Tyler Schroeder, a financial analyst for Air Tractor, an Olney, Texas, manufacturer of small planes used to fight fires and keep soil fertile, said that a customer in Brazil has already asked if Ex-Im Bank will be reauthorized and that he will send a deposit on a plane only if it is.

Schroeder added that he does not think members of Congress understand that banks won’t do deals with some developing country buyers without the Ex-Im Bank guarantee.

“If the private sector would do them, wouldn’t we be using them?” Schroeder asked.

Don Nelson of ProGauge Technologies, a Bakersfield, Calif., manufacturer of steam generators, metering systems and manifold equipment, said “Contracts are long-term. We really need a long-term reauthorization.”

Nelson added that he has tried to get private-sector financing for some exports but “all I have found in the private sector is loan sharks. If Ex-Im goes away I see our export business dying.”

Some members of Congress have said private financing is available, but Nelson said, “I’d like to see Congress introduce us to these people.”

Schroeder, Nelson and other small exporters at the NAM briefing were scheduled to spend the day on Capitol Hill, but declined to say which members they would meet.

▪ National Journal — House GOP Funding Bill would Keep Government Open, Extend Ex-Im Bank