The fate of an institution that serves as a critical safety net for small businesses engaging in high-risk overseas expansion is in the hands of politicians.

Despite the fact that 90 percent of its transactions are with small businesses, including the 77 from Pennsylvania that send $1 billion in goods outside the nation’s border, the Export-Import Bank of the United States has become a political target, labeled as an enabler for crony capitalism, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported.

“I scratch my head and say why the government wastes money and why they would discontinue the one agency that supports small business exports and actually makes profits and kicks it into the treasury,” Bassetts Ice Cream President Michael Strange said in the article.

“Are you kidding me? This is a no-brainer. There’s a lot of political behind-the-scenes stuff.”

Read more about the bank’s role and the effort to let its charter expire in the Philadelphia Business Journal here.