Senate votes to reauthorize Ex-Im Bank

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Senators voted to revive the Export-Import Bank on Monday, setting themselves on a crash course with their House counterparts.

Lawmakers voted 64-29 on attaching a reauthorization of the bank’s charter, which expired last month, to a long-term highway bill.

{mosads}The amendment, from Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill), reauthorizes the bank’s charter through the fall of 2019.

Supporters of Export-Import Bank were widely expected to be successful, after getting 67 votes to overcome a procedural hurdle and end debate on the amendment Sunday.

But the move adds another hurdle to an already uphill path for the six-year bill in the House, where Republican leadership has suggested the proposal is dead on arrival.

Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said earlier Monday that the House will not be “taking up the Senate bill,” suggesting that if lawmakers want to avoid a gap in federal infrastructure funding they have to pass a short-term bill.

But Senate Republicans continued to insist otherwise even in the wake of the California lawmakers strong language.

Kirk said Monday evening that “there is no reason” why the House can’t pass the Senate’s highway legislation, including the Ex-Im reauthorization.

“This is the bill we want to pass, and when we get it passed we hope the House will see the light,” Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) told reporters earlier, asked about the Senate legislation’s chances in the lower chamber. 

Meanwhile, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) appeared to dismiss McCarthy’s comments on Monday evening, suggesting they were made “off the cuff.”  

The push to give new life to the bank has split Senate Republican, pitting the party’s 2016 contenders against one another.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) suggested late last week McConnell lied about allowing a vote on the bank as part of a deal to get needed support on a trade bill, a move that earned the firebrand Republican swift blowback from his colleagues.

After the vote, Cruz slammed what he’s termed the “McConnell-Reid leadership team” and called on House lawmakers to keep their pledge to block the Senates bill. 

“Tonight, the McConnell-Reid leadership team pushed through another win for the Washington Cartel, and they did so at the taxpayers’ expense,” the Texas Republican added. “Worse still, the one person who had the ability to make sure the Ex-Im Bank remained expired was the majority leader.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was the bank’s lone supporter from the party’s four presidential candidates, while Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) didn’t vote. 

 
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, also voted against reauthorizing the bank’s charter.
 
–This report was updated on July 28 at 5:47 a.m.
Tags Bernie Sanders Ex-Im Bank Jim Inhofe Lindsey Graham Marco Rubio Mark Kirk Orrin Hatch Ted Cruz

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