Financial Services Lawmakers Push for More Ex-Im Bank Transparency
House Financial Services Committee leaders threatened in recent days to recruit the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to require that three Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank officials provide transcribed interviews on the credit agency. The bank continues to rebuff committee efforts to interview the officials, and also refuses to release records of Board of Directors meetings, said Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, along with Rep. Patrick McHenry, chairman of the Financial Services subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, in an Aug. 18 letter. McHenry asked Ex-Im President Fred Hochberg in a July 17 letter to make available Ex-Im employees Charles Hall, executive vice president and chief risk officer, David Sena, chief financial officer, and Angela Mariana Freyre, senior vice president and general counsel.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
“The Bank’s inadequate and unacceptable response deprives the Committee of information necessary to critically examine the Bank’s day-to-day operations and assess proposed legislation submitted try the Bank in connection with its request for reauthorization,” said the Aug. 18 letter. “The Bank has not stated a basis on which it might conceivably be justified in withholding the information requested by the Committee.” Lawmakers in both the House and Senate are at odds over reauthorization, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., vowed to prioritize reauthorization legislation in September (see 14080509). The credit agency’s charter will expire on Sept. 30.
Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of the letters.