Business Community Ramps Up Efforts to Renew Ex-Im Bank
Export-Import Bank opponents “blow off” the benefits the credit agency provides to small businesses, but the June 30 looming deadline for Ex-Im authorization will kill both small business and corporate export projects and put an unclear number of Americans out of work, said Coalition For Employment Through Exports John Hardy at a National Foreign Trade Council event on May 5. The credit agency faces an uncertain future, as many House conservatives continue to urge Congress to allow the bank to expire. The battle over reauthorization will likely heat up in June once the next legislative work period gets underway, said Hardy.
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Some lawmakers may be considering tacked Ex-Im renewal on trade legislation in the coming days, but that strategy could face jurisdiction difficulties because Ex-Im isn’t germane legislation, said NFTC President Bill Reinsch. Congress is poised to consider trade and a number of time-sensitive bills throughout the current work period, which will come to a close when lawmakers take Memorial Day recess on May 22 (see 1505080008). “The noise about Ex-Im and the visibility this issue is going to get is going to only grow,” said Hardy. “It’s only going to ratchet up. The month of June is going to be nuts.” House Financial Services Committee ranking member Maxine Waters, D-Calif., has for months spearheaded the drive to renew the bank on a long-term basis (see 1503190052).
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, one of the strongest Ex-Im supports in the business community, launched an advertisement campaign on May 11 to highlight the credit agency’s benefits (here). Opponents, such as House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, say the bank is a form of corporate welfare, arguing the vast majority of actual financing volume goes to corporations such as Boeing and General Electric.The criticism of the bank is more measured in the Senate. The business community has recently targeted Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., to support renewal (see 1502200006). The committee is planning hearings on the reauthorization on June 2 and 4 (here). Shelby’s office declined to comment on witnesses or whether lawmakers will mark up legislation during the hearings.