House Speaker John Boehner has denied a Senate request to guarantee a vote on extending the Export-Import Bank beyond June 30, when authority for the bank expires.
Boehner said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., asked him if he would bring the temporary extension to the floor following a promise by GOP Senate leaders to take it up in the upper chamber in June.
“She contacted me and I told her I would not make that commitment,” Boehner told reporters on Thursday.
A measure to extend the Export-Import Bank played a key role in helping to push a trade promotion authority bill past a critical Senate hurdle on Thursday. Senate Republicans promised Cantwell a vote to extend the bank in exchange for her support on a vote to end debate on the trade legislation.
Boehner questioned whether Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., made the Export-Import promise in exchange for Cantwell’s vote. “I don’t believe that to be the case,” Boehner said.
But McConnell spokesman Don Stewart confirmed the deal.
“The leader has been clear that while he does not support the reauthorization of the Ex-Im Bank, he is willing to have a vote and see where the Senate stands on the issue,” Stewart said. “Next month, there will be an opportunity for the Senate to go on record on the reauthorization of the bank.”
Boehner said if the Senate passes a bill to extend the bank, he would bring it to the floor. But he said he would also allow lawmakers to amend the bill, which would most likely kill the idea of a simple extension given opposition to the bank.
The bank has attracted significant opposition among House Republicans, led by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, who believes the bank promotes corporate welfare and has been mismanaged.
But proponents say the bank plays a key role in helping export U.S. goods and its demise would cost thousands of jobs, particularly in pro-trade states like Cantwell’s.
