The White House is pushing senators to reauthorize the controversial Export-Import bank in must-pass transportation funding legislation that is being debated this week.
Republicans in the House have vocally objected to the idea of including an extension of the Ex-Im Bank’s charter in their version of the new highway bill, but White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the Senate should press ahead with their proposal to combine the measures anyway.
“The president, as you know, has been a strong advocate [of] ensuring that Congress acts quickly to reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank,” Earnest said.
{mosads}”Those who are more sophisticated observers of Congress, and for me it’s the most likely vehicle to move through Congress next, is the extension of the transportation funding, and that is why the administration does support whatever transportation vehicle moves, that it include legislation that reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank,” he continued.
The House voted last Wednesday to approve a short-term $8 billion transportation extension, which lasts until December, in part to preempt the Senate from attaching Ex-Im to a transportation bill.
Lawmakers in the upper chamber have worked on a longer multi-year transportation bill, but GOP leaders in the House have since insisted that the Senate drop Ex-Im from its proposal before it is sent back over to their chamber.
Earnest said Wednesday that “there’s ample reason” to make this the Ex-Im Bank renewal a priority in the highway bill.
“The president will talk about that a little bit later this afternoon, but [the Ex-Im bank] has been strongly supported by the past 13 presidents, both Democrats and Republicans,” he said.
“Just last year, the Ex-Im Bank actually supported 164,000 American jobs, on average, jobs that are supported by exports pay about 18 percent more. So, that’s an indication that Ex-Im makes a substantial and important contribution to our economy, and the president is urging Congress to act quickly to reauthorize it,” Earnest continued.
The fight over whether reauthorization of the Ex-Im Bank, which expired in June, should be added to the highway bill comes as lawmakers are scrambling to prevent an interruption in the nation’s transportation spending.
The Department of Transportation has warned that it will have to cut back on payments to state and local goverments if its Highway Trust Fund is not replenished by the end of the month. The agency has said the fund will dip below a critical level of $4 billion unless Congress reaches an agrement on an extension.
Earnest said the idea of adding the Ex-Im bank renewal to the must-pass highway bill should not be as controversial as lawmakers in the House have made it.
“It merits mentioning that there is strong bipartisan support for the Ex-Im Bank, so it’s not as if this would be the inclusion of a controversial proposal,” he said.
“No doubt, there are some members of Congress who oppose it,” Earnest continued. “But there are clear majorities in both houses of Congress that support the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank, and we believe it should be include in whatever transportation bill Congress acts on.”