The House late Wednesday rejected a slew of amendments to reform the defunct Export-Import Bank, bringing it a step closer to revival despite opposition from conservative factions in both the House and Senate.
Conservative Republicans tried to attach the amendments to a multi-year highway funding bill that was sent over from the Senate. The underlying bill includes a provision to reauthorize the bank and it is expected to pass the House on Thursday.
A bipartisan coalition voted to defeat the amendments, arguing that if any are attached, that would make the House bill different from the Senate bill, which would leave the bank’s revival vulnerable to extinction when the House and Senate try to negotiate compromise bill.
The amendments were defeated largely by the same group of 313 lawmakers who on Oct. 27 voted in a standalone bill to revive the bank.
The bank expired on June 30 thanks to the efforts of conservatives who have declared it a form of corporate welfare that is rife with corruption and mostly benefits giant corporations. The bank provides loans and loan guarantees to foreign imports to make it easier for them to buy U.S. goods and services.
“Every one of these amendments will undermine the Export-Import Bank,” Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., argued on the House floor Wednesday. “Thousands and thousands and thousands of jobs they create and maintain, that is what we are talking about. Jobs for average Americans, whether they work for large, medium and large businesses. Tonight is the time to say, the majority rules.”
Debate of the amendments reopened a schism within the GOP over Ex-Im. While all Democrats back the bank, many Republican do not, including the Republican leadership team headed by new Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.
Ryan allowed the bank amendments in addition to more than 100 other amendments to the transportation funding bill in order to fulfill his pledge to open the legislative process and allow members to “participate in a way the founders intended.”
Opponents of the bank include the most conservative members of the GOP. They authored nearly a dozen amendments aimed at reining in the bank by shielding taxpayer liability, requiring more loans for small businesses, and forcing big companies to seek private loans first before asking for loans or loan guarantees from the bank.
Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., argued that the bank has fallen short on issuing small business loans for three consecutive years. His amendment would have required the bank to increase the percentage of money loaned to smaller businesses, with stiff penalties for non-compliance.
“What we have is an Export-Import Bank that has refused to comply with the law over and over again,” Perry said. “Out of $120 billion dollars in loans, 51 percent goes to ten companies. You figure it out. To me, it looks like cronyism.”
But all bank amendments were rejected.
Bank proponents argued during debate that the House already passed a bill to revive it. Lawmakers took extraordinary steps to win consideration of the bill to revive it, collecting signatures from more than half the House on a discharge petition that forced a floor vote over the objection of former Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, who retired last week.
“If you can’t win by playing by the rules, than how do yo win in this place?” Rep. Lucas.
Those who opposed the amendments said they are in favor of reform.
The House-passed bill to revive the bank includes reform provision that will be included in the negotiations with the Senate.
“This House very thoughtfully passed our own authorization,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. “I would hope that the Senate would agree to our language, unamended.”
