PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Feb 26, 2025
Strengthening Exports Against China Act
This bill allows the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) to exclude financing provided to certain U.S. exporters from its default rate cap calculations.
EXIM, the official export credit agency of the United States, provides financing for U.S. exports of goods and services. EXIM monitors credit and other transaction risks, reserves against losses, and submits quarterly reports to Congress on its default rate. If its default rate reaches 2%, EXIM faces an immediate lending cap freeze.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
This bill exempts certain transactions from EXIM's default rate calculation, thereby allowing EXIM to provide financing to these U.S. exporters without the risk of reaching the default rate cap.
Specifically, the bill allows EXIM to exclude from the default rate cap any financing provided to U.S. exporters under the China and Transformational Exports Program. (This program allows EXIM to extend loans, guarantees, and insurance to advance the comparative leadership of the United States with respect to China in specified export areas, such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and wireless communications equipment.)
Additionally, the bill allows EXIM to exclude from the default rate cap any financing provided to U.S. exporters that are competing with products or services provided by (1) a foreign entity included on the Entity List maintained by the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (e.g., entities involved in activities contrary to U.S. national security or foreign policy interests), or (2) a foreign individual or entity sanctioned by the Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control.
People & committees
Rep. Kim, Young [R-CA-40] · R–CA
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
Source last updated: Aug 21, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze H.R.1615 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine H.R.1615 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine H.R.1615 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine H.R.1615 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.
PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2025-02-26 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
The proposed Strengthening Exports Against China Act would change how the Export-Import Bank calculates a rate under existing law. It would exclude certain entities in default—entities that have failed to meet their financing obligations—when the Bank determines their financing qualifies. The exception covers financing that helps replace or compete with products or services from specified federally listed entities or certain businesses they control, or financing provided through the Program on China and Transformational Exports.
This Act may be cited as the Strengthening Exports Against China Act.
For purposes of this paragraph, the rate calculated under section 8(g)(1) shall not include an entity in default if the Bank determines that the financing provided to the entity— (i) facilitates the replacement of or competition with a product or service provided by— (I) an entity on the Entity List maintained by the Bureau of Industry and Security of the Department of Commerce and set forth in Supplement No. 4 to part 744 of title 15, Code of Federal Regulations; or (II) a person— (aa) on the list of specially designated nationals and blocked persons maintained by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Department of the Treasury; or (bb) with respect to which one or more persons described in item (aa), individually or in the aggregate, directly or indirectly, hold at least 50 percent of the outstanding voting interest; or (ii) was provided pursuant to the Program on China and Transformational Exports established under section 2(l).
Section 2 would amend section 6(a)(3) of the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945. For purposes of that paragraph, excluding a qualifying entity in default would be mandatory once the Bank determines that its financing meets a listed condition.
Section 6(a)(3) of the Export-Import Bank Act of 1945 (12 U.S.C. 635e(a)(3)) is amended—
For purposes of this paragraph, the rate calculated under section 8(g)(1) shall not include an entity in default if the Bank determines that the financing provided to the entity—
One qualifying condition would cover financing that helps replace or compete with a product or service supplied by an entity on the Commerce Department’s Entity List.
(i) facilitates the replacement of or competition with a product or service provided by— (I) an entity on the Entity List maintained by the Bureau of Industry and Security of the Department of Commerce and set forth in Supplement No. 4 to part 744 of title 15, Code of Federal Regulations;
The competitive-financing condition would also cover products or services supplied by a person on the Treasury Department’s list of specially designated nationals and blocked persons. It would extend to suppliers in which one or more listed persons hold at least 50 percent of the voting interest, directly or indirectly, either individually or together.
(i) facilitates the replacement of or competition with a product or service provided by—
(II) a person— (aa) on the list of specially designated nationals and blocked persons maintained by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Department of the Treasury; or (bb) with respect to which one or more persons described in item (aa), individually or in the aggregate, directly or indirectly, hold at least 50 percent of the outstanding voting interest;
A separate route to the exclusion would cover financing provided under the Program on China and Transformational Exports. Because this is an alternative condition, that financing would not also have to meet the listed-supplier competition condition.
For purposes of this paragraph, the rate calculated under section 8(g)(1) shall not include an entity in default if the Bank determines that the financing provided to the entity—
or (ii) was provided pursuant to the Program on China and Transformational Exports established under section 2(l).
The supplied official-actions snapshot, updated August 21, 2026, records introduction in the House and referral to the House Committee on Financial Services on February 26, 2025.
Source snapshot updated 2026-08-21T16:27:36Z. 2025-02-26: Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services. 2025-02-26: Introduced in House
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2025-02-26. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No unrelated provision or policy change attached to appropriations was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending for a particular recipient or place was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
Findings to examine
The proposed calculation rule contains a targeted exception tied to specified financing conditions. This classification does not assess whether the exception is justified.
Entities in default whose financing meets either the listed-supplier competition condition or the China export program condition would receive special treatment: exclusion from the specified rate calculation when the Bank determines they qualify. This exception is the bill’s main financing policy.
For purposes of this paragraph, the rate calculated under section 8(g)(1) shall not include an entity in default if the Bank determines that the financing provided to the entity— (i) facilitates the replacement of or competition with a product or service provided by— (I) an entity on the Entity List maintained by the Bureau of Industry and Security of the Department of Commerce and set forth in Supplement No. 4 to part 744 of title 15, Code of Federal Regulations; or (II) a person— (aa) on the list of specially designated nationals and blocked persons maintained by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Department of the Treasury; or (bb) with respect to which one or more persons described in item (aa), individually or in the aggregate, directly or indirectly, hold at least 50 percent of the outstanding voting interest; or (ii) was provided pursuant to the Program on China and Transformational Exports established under section 2(l).
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Aug 21, 2026. How PlainBill uses AI