House backs Ex-Im Bank with rare bipartisan maneuver

WASHINGTON – The House used a rare parliamentary maneuver on Tuesday to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank.

A coalition of Republicans and Democrats banded to force a vote on the government bank, which Tea Party Republicans demonized as "crony capitalism" but which dozens of other Republicans supported.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., did not want to bring the bank bill to the floor because it exposed a rift in their party.

Seven of Minnesota's eight-member House delegation voted to reopen the bank, whose charter expired June 30 because of inaction on the part of Congress. Only Republican Rep. Tom Emmer voted against it.

The final vote was 313-118 with 127 Republicans joining 186 Democrats in passing a reauthorization bill sponsored by Rep. Stephen Fincher, R-Tenn. The bill now goes to the Senate, where an earlier test vote showed strong support for the bank, known as Ex-Im.

The House victory was an affirmation of the business community's power and influence. The National Association of Manufacturers, which includes board members from Minnesota-based Cargill, UnitedHealth Group and C.H. Robinson Worldwide, lobbied hard for the bank. So did the Business Roundtable, an advocacy group for chief executives from some of the nation's leading companies, including Minnesota's 3M, Ameriprise Financial, Medtronic and Target.

A last-ditch attempt to avoid a decision failed when on a voice vote the House defeated a motion to return the bill reauthorizing the bank to the Financial Services Committee. Committee chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, a vocal Ex-Im opponent, had blocked the bank from a vote of the whole House for 13 months.

The 81-year-old bank had been reauthorized with bipartisan majorities and without much controversy until 2010 when Tea Party members, who now call themselves the Freedom Caucus, targeted it.

Ex-Im charges businesses a fee for helping arrange or guarantee loans or to insure credit lines that allow American companies to sell their products abroad. It has paid billions of dollars into the U.S. Treasury over its life, including $675 million in fiscal 2014. Since 2007, the bank's website says, the bank has helped 218 Minnesota businesses and supported $4 billion in exports.

The Freedom Caucus, backed by free-market advocates at the Heritage Foundation, sees that as corporate welfare.

While the vast majority of the bank's customers are small businesses, the majority of the value of the loans the bank supports go to big businesses.

But at least one major Minnesota employer, Delta Air Lines, opposed the bank because it helps foreign airlines purchase planes made by U.S.-based Boeing.

House leaders, loath to expose GOP members to a divided vote, refused to allow a vote on Ex-Im before its charter expired June 30. A discharge petition signed Oct. 9 by 42 Republicans and 176 Democrats forced Tuesday's vote.

Rep. Rick Nolan, D-Minn., spoke in favor of the bank during the floor debate.

"The simple truth is that this Ex-Im Bank doesn't cost the taxpayers a penny," Nolan told his colleagues. "It creates tens of thousands of jobs all across the country."

In statements after the vote, most of Minnesota's other House expressed support for the bank's mission and performance.

"I am pleased our strong bipartisan coalition was finally able to force a vote on this," said Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn.

"The Export-Import Bank's renewal will enable American businesses large and small to compete successfully around the world, and I applaud every member of Congress who voted for it," said Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn.

Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., took a more partisan stand than some of her colleagues, saying, "For months now, House Republicans have tried to kill the Export-Import Bank, endangering businesses, jobs and U.S. competitiveness. Today, Democrats delivered the votes to protect American workers and businesses from an extreme ideology."

Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., who supported the final Ex-Im bill after opposing earlier attempts to bring it to a vote, stressed the bipartisan nature of the final vote.

"This bipartisan legislation will help employers grow jobs in America and provide accountability and greater oversight on behalf of the taxpayer by enhancing transparency and reducing risk," Kline said.

Rep. Erik Paulsen, R-Minn., who like Kline voted against attempts to force the vote, then supported the final motion, expressed measured support. "For a number of small businesses, having an export credit agency is the only way they can successfully sell their products overseas," Paulsen said in a statement. "At the same time, I support reforms to the Export-Import Bank, including increasing transparency requirements, reducing the lending cap and installing anti-corruption safeguards."

Emmer maintained that the bank unfairly subsidized some businesses at the expense of others.

"Today, we voted on a piece of legislation that hit the House Floor with limited debate and no hearing," Emmer said. "I am disappointed that regular order was circumvented, stifling the democratic process."

At Trade Acceptance Group in Edina, co-founder Curtis Hanson welcomed Ex-Im's reauthorization.

"Most of our clients are small and middle market exporters," said Hanson, who regularly negotiates loan guarantees and credit insurance with Ex-Im. "How can you be against exports?"

Jim Spencer • 202-383-6123