House bill revives Ex-Im Bank over conservative opposition

A strong coalition of establishment-backed Republicans and House Democrats voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to revive the Export-Import Bank, dealing a defeat to tea party conservatives and Speaker-to-be Paul Ryan.

The House approved the measure 313 to 118 as 127 Republicans joined with almost every Democrat to support the bank, whose charter expired June 30.

Since then, the bank has been unable to approve new applications to fulfill its mission of helping overseas buyers get financing to purchase U.S. exports, such as airplanes and heavy equipment. Supporters said the bank helps sustain tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs.

The legislation’s fate is uncertain in the Senate.

Proponents of the bank forced a House vote through a rarely used procedure known as a discharge petition. They pushed a vote over the opposition of top House GOP leaders, including Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling of Texas.

But outgoing House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) was a quiet supporter and did not discourage GOP proponents of the bank from pursuing the petition drive that forced the measure to the floor.

Conservative critics said the bank provides too much of its credit assistance to help huge, well-connected corporations, such as Boeing Co., General Electric and Caterpillar Inc. They said that the bank finances just a fraction of U.S. exports and that alternative financing options are available.

“Are we going to reward good work or good connections?” Ryan said. “I think there are plenty of other ways to expand opportunity in this country, and corporate welfare is not one of them.”

Several companies have announced that they have lost business because of the lapse in bank operations and have threatened to shutter plants if it isn’t revived.

Democrats provided the bulk of support for the measure, another example of them driving the House agenda despite being the minority party.

“This is a bill about jobs for small, medium and large businesses. This is a bill about America’s competitiveness with the rest of the world,” said No. 2 House Democrat Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland.

A drive by traditionally Republican-friendly groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Assn. of Manufacturers focused on the assistance the bank provides to small businesses.

The Business Roundtable, which consists of corporate chief executives, commended the House in passing the measure, saying that the lapse in bank activity has put “hundreds of thousands of American jobs at unnecessary risk.”

“Since Congress allowed the bank’s authority to lapse in July, U.S. companies — large and small — have not been able to compete on a level playing field with foreign competitors, which have continued to receive significant financing from export credit agencies around the world,” the group said Tuesday.

The Senate voted 64 to 29 this summer to reauthorize the bank as an amendment to an unrelated bill extending highway programs. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, (R-Ky.), however, opposes the bank and said Tuesday that he won’t bring the House stand-alone measure up for a vote.

“The way to achieve Ex-Im, if it’s going to be achieved in the Senate, would be in the context of the highway bill,” McConnell said Tuesday.

Prospects for the bank aren’t helped by the looming departure of Boehner at week’s end.

Proponents said killing the bank would put U.S. businesses at a disadvantage with foreign firms that benefit from export assistance from their own governments.

But opposition to the bank has energized conservatives who see a rare opportunity to eliminate a major government program.

Hensarling resolutely refused to move the measure through the Financial Services Committee, where more than half of the panel’s Republicans opposed renewing the Export-Import Bank.

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