Ex-Im chief pleads to bank’s opponents

Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank President Fred Hochberg has personally lobbied House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to keep the bank alive.

Hochberg told reporters on Friday that he has spoken to both McCarthy and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), who both oppose extending the bank’s charter.

{mosads}“I tried mostly to respond to their concerns they’ve had and let them hear straight from me,” Hochberg said at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast in Washington. “I’m looking for a solution and to find common ground.”

Hochberg said he has not spoken to or met with Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who backs the bank.

Ex-Im’s charter will expire on June 30 without action by Congress.

The Export-Import Bank finances overseas investments by U.S. companies as a way to increase U.S. exports.

Tea Party critics, fueled by Koch Industries, argue that the bank picks winners and losers by financing some well-connected big businesses and shutting out others.

But supporters in the business community, including giant corporations like Boeing and Caterpillar, argue that the bank’s financing helps sustain jobs and fuel small-business growth.

Hochberg said there is “no Plan B” if the bank shuts down.

“When a supply chain manager from Oregon asked me: ‘If Ex-Im doesn’t get a long-term reauthorization, what’s our Plan B?’ I paused, and said, ‘There is no Plan B.  Ex-Im is Plan B,’ ” Hochberg said.

Many expect Congress to approve an extension of the charter by attaching legislation to a measure funding highway projects. But because that legislation wouldn’t move until the end of July, it would cause a lapse in the bank’s authority.