House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) says he’s looking forward to the Export-Import Bank expiring on June 30.
In a statement Tuesday, Hensarling, one of Ex-Im’s top critics said he didn’t believe lawmakers would act to extend the bank’s charter again this year.
{mosads}”With no further action or consideration expected during this Congress, I look forward to the Bank’s expiration and working with members to make our exporters more competitive by advancing pro-growth tax, energy, regulatory and liability policies,” Hensarling said.
Hensarling backed a 9-month reauthorization of the bank in September as part of a stopgap bill to avoid a government shutdown ahead of the midterms. But he has vowed to push again to kill the bank for good.
Ex-Im will need to be reauthorized by June 30 or it will shut down.
His comments come after Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Financial Services panel and retiring-Rep. Gary Miller (R-Calif.) earlier Tuesday introduced a bipartisan bill to reauthorize Ex-Im for 5 years.
Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) have also unveiled Ex-Im legislation in the upper chamber.
But Hensarling doesn’t believe those bills will move.
He called the current short-term reauthorization “probationary,” and said it allowed lawmakers time to raise “important questions” about the bank.
Hensarling and other Tea Partiers say the bank is “corporate welfare” and “cronyism” designed to prop up businesses like Boeing.
Most centrist Republicans and Democrats — backed by the business community — support Ex-Im because they say it’s needed to help U.S. companies make inroads in emerging markets overseas, and sustain jobs in America.
Hensarling was able to decouple Ex-Im’s reauthorization from the recent stopgap budget Congress passed to keep the government open through Dec. 11. Lawmakers will need to pass another budget before that date.
The bank’s critics believe it will be easier to end the bank in June if the debate is not tied to larger budget issues.