Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has filed to advance the nominations of three board members for the Export-Import Bank.
Since the summer of 2015 the bank’s board has lacked enough members to approve government-backed loans above $10 million to companies engaged in overseas projects that qualify. Confirmation of the three nominees would give the bank a quorum and the ability to resume making big loans.
McConnell filed a procedural motion Thursday to limit debate on the nominations of Kimberly Reed, Judith DelZoppo Pryor, and former House Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., to lead the government-run bank.
Debate over the bank’s role has split Republicans, with some arguing that government support of private-industry projects is inappropriate and others maintaining the bank’s loans and credit guarantees are necessary for American companies to compete in certain industries with foreign competitors that receive subsidies from their own governments.
Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee temporarily blocked a reauthorization of the bank in late 2015. President Trump originally nominated one of those Republicans, former Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., to chair the board. Garrett’s nomination sank after two Senate Republicans, Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., opposed him out of fear that he would further disrupt the bank’s operations.
Reed, Bachus, and DelZoppo Pryor are considered to more broadly favor the bank’s operational status quo. If confirmed, Reed and DelZoppo Pryor would hold board terms that end in 2021, while Bachus would be confirmed through 2023. A vote to advance the trio’s nomination will take place next week.
The bank’s current authorization expires on Sept. 30.
