Honeywell Chairman and CEO Dave Cote today appeared on Bloomberg Television's "InBusiness With Margaret Brennan” following the Ex-Im Bank Annual Conference where he introduced keynote speaker former President Bill Clinton. Cote spoke with Peter Cook, Bloomberg Television’s chief Washington correspondent, about topics including the importance of the U.S. Export-Import Bank, Honeywell's business and U.S. fiscal policy.

When asked about his take on the debate about the future of the Ex-Im Bank, Cote had a very clear vision. “The government needs to be in this business because it’s a competitive issue. I like the way President Clinton teed it up where he said this is not just an issue about the Ex-Im Bank, there’s an American competitiveness issue that we have to discuss here and this is a piece of it. You can’t unilaterally disarm while other countries are supporting exports and using this kind of approach.”

Cote provided a global update on Honeywell’s business saying, “The story hasn’t really changed that much in the last 3-4 months as far as we’re concerned. If we take a look at long-cycle orders – things like oil, gas and aerospace – that’s actually done pretty well and continues to do so. If you look at short-cycle stuff – things where you get the order and a week or day later you ship it – that’s been fine in the U.S. It’s slowed some but was still fine in China and India. The place we really saw it slow was Europe.”

He also discussed his view on the budget debate in Washington stating, “Nothing is happening and it’s a fundamental part of what we need to address for an American competitiveness agenda again. My biggest concern is that this does not get discussed in the general election. If this isn’t discussed between the two candidates, and the American public doesn’t vote on where they’re interested in going, then I’m fearful that the can just continues to get kicked down the road. They need to have this conversation in the debates.”

Watch the interview here.