To get rid of the Export-Import Bank
of the United States, that is. Members of Congress needed to only let its
charter expire on June 30, and then just let it stay expired.
June 30 came and went. So far, so
good. But, then on Sunday, July 26, in
a 67-26 vote, the Republican-led U.S. Senate decided
to attach the controversial bank reauthorization to the $317 billion highway
bill. Current highway funding expires on July 31.
Next stop, the bill proceeds to the
Republican-led House of Representatives, which, for its part, has passed
a 5-month extension of highway funding with no Ex-Im Bank reauthorization
attached.
Either, the House will take up the
Senate’s massive $317 billion measure — in which case the Ex-Im Bank will be
reauthorized.
Or, the House could tell the Senate
to go pound sand and let the 5-month extension be its final word on the matter,
adjourning for August recess. That would leave the Senate with just the option
of the 5-month extension of highway funding.
Nobody really misses the bank
anyway. It only
accounts for $27.5 billion of the
nation’s $2.344 trillion of annual exports
— just 1.17 percent of the total. Meaning, more than 98 percent of U.S. exports
have no ties to the Ex-Im Bank. It simply does not matter to the functioning of
the global economy. It is that insignificant.
And existing Ex-Im loans can be
serviced just fine even with the charter lapsed. In the bank’s sunset
clause, it states, “The provisions of this section
shall not be construed as preventing the bank… from continuing as a corporate
agency of the United States and exercising any of its functions subsequent to
such date for purposes of orderly liquidation, including the administration of
its assets and the collection of any obligations held by the bank.”
As Americans for Limited Government
President Rick Manning noted last month, “A lapse of authority will simply mean
the bank’s operations continue until all existing obligations are settled. It
will continue collecting interest payments to maintain those operations.”
In a March 2015
publication, the Congressional Research Service
notes the bank’s contingency plan for the charter ending: “According to Ex-Im
Bank, if its authority were to lapse, no new commitments (including new loan,
guarantee, or insurance transactions) could be approved by its Board of
Directors or under delegated authority, but prior obligations (including
disbursements on already-approved final commitments) could continue. The Bank
could continue to make expenditures in its operations (including salary, rent,
etc.), while developing a plan for orderly liquidation.”
In the meantime, current bank
customers could, over time, secure financing elsewhere in an increasingly
credit-driven global economy. Corporate financing is nothing new.
Boeing
has already indicated with the lapsed charter it would provide financing for
its customers, who had been using Ex-Im Bank
loans, pretty much proving the bank is unnecessary. If financing is otherwise
available, what’s the point of the bank?
Making the Senate’s reauthorization
vote somewhat inexplicable, except to say that slightly lower interest rates
for bank customers do represent a financial incentive to keep the bank running.
Albeit, not one that should be of such great interest to Congress, since
taxpayers really get nothing out of the deal.
Unless, of course, members of
Congress themselves are the ones getting a personal, financial benefit from
those who profit off the bank. Making them little more than corporatists doing
the bidding of their paymasters. Just saying.
Robert Romano is the senior editor
of Americans for Limited Government.
http://netrightdaily.com/2015/07/ex-im-bank-not-dead-yet/
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