Posted on 06/22/2014 4:05:07 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
As part of his bid to become majority leader, McCarthy told his Republican colleagues in a closed-door meeting that he wouldn't overstep Hensarling on Ex-Im -- a major blow to the bank's future. The bank expires if the House doesn't produce a bill to reauthorize it, and Hensarling's committee has jurisdiction on the issue.
Business groups fear the shake-up in House leadership will set back their efforts to renew authorization for the Export-Import bank.
With Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) -- an Ex-Im critic during the 2012 battle -- jumping into the majority whip post, supporters of the bank say a divided GOP leadership is unlikely to push for a longterm renewal of the bank’s charter, which expires Sept. 30.
Neither the Senate nor the House have yet to produce a reauthorization bill. Without a bill, the bank will cease doing business.
The federally backed bank, established in 1934, helps finance American businesses' foreign sales. Supporters say Ex-Im is needed to help U.S. companies stay competitive in foreign markets. Critics say it's corporate welfare designed to pump money for big business.
"Now that Scalise is in leadership, we hope that the looks at it from our perspective," said John Hardy, president of the Coalition for Employment Through Exports, which is actively supporting Ex-Im. "It's relatively unknown what he'll do. This is his first test and he's very new. He has to get acclimated. He's no longer just a congressman."
Scalise's office did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Hardy said that when former-Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) -- their top political ally in the House -- unexpectedly lost earlier this month to tea partier Dave Brat, business groups went into overdrive in lobbying for the bank's reauthorization.
"It was startling and it made us realize that the need to up the ante," Hardy said. "Everybody's trying to read the tea leaves."
They're also questioning whether new Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who supported Ex-Im in 2012, has enough political clout to overshadow Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), another critic of the bank.
As part of his bid to become majority leader, McCarthy told his Republican colleagues in a closed-door meeting that he wouldn't overstep Hensarling on Ex-Im -- a major blow to the bank's future. The bank expires if the House doesn't produce a bill to reauthorize it, and Hensarling's committee has jurisdiction on the issue.
But if McCarthy were to bring a bill to the floor without Hensarling's approval, it could stoke the feud between the GOP establishment and the tea party just months before the midterm elections.
Some speculate it would hurt McCarthy's political future, provided he has to run for another leadership election in November. That’s because, if tea party members continue to oppose, McCarthy could be seen as willing to break the so-called Hastert Rule, in which the Speaker only allows votes on legislation supported by "the majority of the majority" party.
For Hensarling, too, the political battle is risky.
"If Ex-Im gets reauthorized, it could end up looking like Hensarling lost, but it could also look like he helped get the grassroots even more rallied together on the issue," said Tim Carney, an economics fellow at The American Enterprise Institute, which opposes Ex-Im reneewal.
Hensarling has been one of Congress's most vocal opponents of the bank, which tea party conservatives have criticized as "cronyism" and "corporate welfare." The 2012 reauthorization bill passed 330-93, eight not voting and no Democrats opposing the legislation.
But in 2012, Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) helmed Financial Services. While the 2012 reauthorization battle was a headache for businesses, they had about four to six months to prepare for a battle.
Not this go-round. Bachus is out as chairman and Hensarling in. it is only weeks until the August recess and neither chamber has yet introduced a reauthorization bill.
"We have no idea of a timeline this time," said Daniel Pinho, senior vice president for trade finance at PNC, which is also actively supporting reauthorization. "Right now, we don't have anything to even work with."
And this time around prominent tea party groups have been more active on the issue, leaving business groups scrambling to strategize in a time crunch and without a powerful ally in the House. Heritage Action, The Club For Growth and Americans For Prosperity (AFP) have all upped their opposition to reauthorization.
"The fight over reauthorization a couple years ago was nowhere near the intensity and the scale that there is now," said Levi Russell, AFP director of public affairs.
Tea party groups and their allies in Congress are now in a full-fledged policy war against Ex-Im supporters, such as The Financial Services Roundtable, The Coalition for Employment Through Exports, and The Chamber of Commerce.
Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) are working on a reauthorization bill in the Senate, but it's unclear who on the House Financial Services Committee will buck Hensarling and propose a bill of their own, according to sources familiar with the issue.
"For the business community, the bottom line is that we need a reasonable bill and continuity so companies can rely on it," Hardy said.
Meanwhile, Reps. Charles Boustany (R-La.), Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) and Gregg Harper (R-Miss.) are circulating a letter sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers that calls on Congress to reauthorized the bank.
That letter was supposed to close Friday, but now is remaining open until Monday, according to spokespeople for the offices supporting the letter.
Choosing to support or oppose Ex-Im could prove a thorny issue for Republicans who are up for reelection, forcing them to pick sides between the establishment GOP and the more consevative tea party.
"Our mission is not to make Republicans happy or to get Republicans elected, it's to fight for free market principles," AFP's Russell said.
Business leaders have flooded Capitol Hill in recent weeks, with more visits planned for June and July, touting to lawmakers about how Ex-Im has helped businesses in their districts. But whether that will be enough to overcome tea party opposition remains the big unknown.
"The bottom line is that Ex-Im's past of automatic bipartisan renewals without a floor vote are over," Carney said. "The agency is going to have to continue to justify its existence -- if it does continue to exist."
Hensarling is set to chair a hearing on the issue Wednesday, in which Ex-Im Chairman Fred P. Hochberg is slated to testify.
There’s only “one member of the Republican Party” holding up reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank, according to Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer: Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt [he's] the one holding it up,” the Maryland Democrat told reporters at his weekly press briefing Tuesday morning. “It’s not an impression. It’s a fact.”
Hoyer went on to say that House GOP leaders, particularly outgoing Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, want to reauthorize the institution designed to help U.S. companies finance goods for sale overseas. The two lawmakers actually worked closely together at the time of the last reauthorization to bring a bill to the floor, Hoyer said.
Opponents of the Ex-Im Bank dismiss the institution as an anachronistic corporate slush fund rife with cronyism, and they have an ally in Hensarling, who heads up the committee of jurisdiction.
Hoyer said Cantor communicated to him that he told “Mr. Hensarling [that] he has to make his cause to the caucus.”
However, Hensarling has yet to schedule a hearing or a markup on the issue, though he said in a statement in late April that he would “in the coming months … give Members an opportunity to publicly debate the merits of the Bank.” Another unpromising sign for Ex-Im Bank advocates was a speech at the Heritage Foundation in May, where Hensarling called for every Republican to support the bank’s expiration.
If House Republican leaders are committed to reauthorizing the bank despite Hensarling’s opposition or in the event he chooses to do nothing at the committee level, they could override him as they did with flood insurance legislation earlier this year, even though they would surely anger hard-line conservatives on and off Capitol Hill.
Hoyer said he hoped leaders were prepared to go that route, and that Cantor, even as a member of the rank and file, will be a positive influence on moving the legislation forward.
“He’s here for another six months,” Hoyer said. “He’s a very influential member of his caucus and he could be a very positive force in this caucus.”
It has never, however, been clear that Cantor or others were willing to put their necks on the line regarding the Ex-Im Bank. Instead, Cantor and others in leadership have continued to defer to Hensarling to buy time that’s rapidly running out. Cantor did not make any mention of the bank reauthorization in his memo outlining June’s legislative agenda, and there’s no indication that House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy of California, widely expected to succeed Cantor as majority leader, would champion the cause.
Industry lobbyists downtown are already worrying about what Cantor’s departure from the leadership table will mean for the bank’s reauthorization.
Hensarling’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
I've seen "business" interests here in FL lobby my former governor (POS Jeb Bush) to confiscate tens of thousands of acres of land from homeowners, investors and family farmers. It was sold to the stupid as protecting the environment.
Goldman Sachs would have us all enslaved to carbon credits just so they could skim from the exchanges. The chamber of commerce - which I was once a member - is becoming a destructive, full-on enemy of America.
Like collectivists, fascists and socialists, many big businesses today partner with government to exploit human production for their own ends.
I’m very encouraged by how conservatives in the House are maximizing their clout. They’re doing a good job holding the line and resisting the rot in their ranks (and giving them heartburn) while waiting for reinforcements.
DISMANTLE socialist collectives, foreign and domestic.
Above all, if you wish to be strong, begin by rooting out every particle of socialism that may have crept into your legislation. - Legal Plunder Has Many Names; The Law; Frederic Bastiat 1801-1850
BUMP! BUMP!
Thanks for the links BUMP!
They key point here is that if the Ex-Im Bank is so critical a function, then the market will provide an alternative.
End crony capitalism now.
Ex-Im.....I know absolutely nothing about this but I get a strong feeling we’re talking corporate welfare here!!!
The US government today is totally fascistic, and if obama and those like him get their way, it will continue to move towards communism.
The only difference between the two systems is how much production is accomplished by "private enterprise" because the government is in control under both systems.
Both systems are ruthless in their treatment of individual rights, both systems reward their cronies and punish their adversaries and both systems depend of the absence of God, family and individual moral rights to exist.
The influence of USSR Communism has immigrated to the USA. The 1965 Immigration Act opened the door fully. It is the influence of Communism that represents where most of our problems begin. The concept starts out with a philosophy that sounds good to many (sharing the wealth), but it ends up benefiting only the Party loyalists as intended, and stripping all others of influence and power. Communism was always a power grab with the end result being tyranny.
Hard working Americans are very tired of seeing their taxes (or government debt) going up but only to make very rich connected people (and other countries) even richer.
That is how the system of corporate welfare and crony capitalism works. Both Parties play it so they get kickbacks that will get them re-elected, while they screw every citizen. What will bringing or legalizing 20 million illegals or H1Bs do for average Americans except reduce their rights, their wages, the value of their education, and increase their per person debt?
The corporate welfare and crony capitalists want open borders. The media plays their bugle, while we citizens all get screwed.
Very well-said, apoliticalone. BUMP!
I didn’t see a mention of how much tax dollars are poured into Ex-Im
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