Senate

GOP wants plan to dissolve Ex-Im Bank

by Jordain Carney - 07/01/15 4:37 PM ET

Republican senators are pushing the administration to lay out its plan to liquidate the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank after its charter expired Tuesday.

Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who are all running for president, as well as Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) asked Fred Hochberg, the chairman and president of the Ex-Im Bank, to hand over a plan by July 15.

“Even though the Ex-Im Bank is fully funded through the end of the fiscal year, it is now prohibited from acquiring new obligations, assuming new liabilities, and issuing new bonds and debts,” the senators wrote in a letter to Hochberg sent Wednesday. “Given the unique nature of your agency’s termination, we write to request clarity on your plan for an orderly liquidation.”

{mosads}The senators add that the plan should include which employees are helping dissolve the bank — and why they need to remain employed during the liquidation process — a report on the dissolution of the bank’s board of directors, return of the bank’s properties to the General Services Administration, the end of the Ex-Im website and an estimation of how much federal money will be saved through the end of the fiscal year by winding down the bank’s operations now.

The senators also want to know which agency will be making payments, after the bank is shut down, on any financial obligations the bank took on before its charter expired.

The Export-Import Bank’s charter expired Tuesday, after lawmakers chose not to extend the bank’s life before leaving town last week.

Ex-Im supporters are expected to include a reauthorization of its charter as part of a highway bill later this month. However, leaders in both chambers of Congress are against reauthorizing the bank.

The fight over the bank is threatening to spill over into the 2016 election and split Republicans. While Cruz, Paul and Rubio oppose the institution, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who is also running for president, has been a vocal supporter.

“This is an ideological crusade that’s disconnected from the reality of the economy,” Graham told reporters late last month, referring to his party’s push to kill the bank. “People are raising a ton of money on it. … This is a manufactured issue, no pun intended.”

Graham added that Ex-Im was a top issue in South Carolina, an early-voting state, saying, “People know, trust me, they know. … It’s a big deal in New Hampshire too, by the way.”

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), who faces a potentially tough reelection next year, on Tuesday said, “Congress needs to act swiftly” to reauthorize the bank or risk losing American jobs.

Supporters of the bank were able to get 65 votes in support of the agency during a test vote earlier this year.

Supporters voted down a motion to table an amendment that would have reauthorized the bank — essentially a test vote.

Joining Kirk in voting against killing the amendment were other Republicans up for reelection next year, including Sens. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Roy Blunt (Mo.), Ron Johnson (Wis.) and Rob Portman (Ohio).