"When Rahm served as a Senior Advisor to President Clinton, I knew I could turn to Rahm whenever I needed to get something done for Illinois," Simon said. "I recall, for example, when Caterpillar was being threatened by competition from Japan. If they had not gotten a loan - quickly - from the Export-Import Bank, we would have lost hundreds of Illinois jobs. We needed help from the White House. I called Rahm, and he attacked that challenge because he understood what those jobs meant to the workers involved and their families. He made that loan happen, and Cat won the contract."