Conservative groups to punish members voting for Cantor’s Export-Import bill

The conservative Club for Growth and Heritage Action groups on Monday said they will key-vote a bill reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank that was crafted by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) in collaboration with House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.).

Club for Growth sent out a formal warning against the bill. Heritage Action spokesman Dan Holler told The Hill his group is also opposed to the Cantor-Hoyer bill and will be scoring the vote.

{mosads}The moves by the conservative groups reinforce a divide in the Republican party over the Export-Import Bank.

Club for Growth and Heritage Action are perennial Ex-Im critics and say that the Cantor compromise bill, set to come to the House floor this week under suspension of rules, does not satisfy their concerns. Some conservatives oppose the bank on principle as a government subsidy.

The bill is backed by most business groups, including the Chamber of Commerce and National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). They point out that Ex-Im pays for its activities using fees it charges customers.

“While supporters of the Ex-Im Bank claim that it is self-sufficient and doesn’t add to the federal deficit, the real problem is that the Bank’s financing helps some companies to the detriment of other firms and taxpayers. A prime example, among many, is the Bank providing financing for foreign airlines to buy American aircrafts, thus allowing those companies to better compete against American airlines,” Club for Growth Vice President Andy Roth said. “Not only should members of Congress reject this expansion of authority, but they should reject the Bank’s charter and shut it down for good.”

“The Ex-Im Bank is properly viewed as the Fannie Mae for exporters: expanding its high-risk business while claiming low-risk,” said Heritage Action communications director Dan Holler, in a statement. “Although the House Ex-Im reauthorization does contain some minor tweaks and reforms, it does not change the nature of the taxpayer-backed bank, nor does it begin the process of winding down the bank’s intervention in our economy.”

The National Association of Manufacturers is also key voting the bill, urging lawmakers to support the bank’s reauthorization.

“The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) is one of the only tools manufacturers in the United States have to counter hundreds of billions of dollars of export financing that foreign governments offer to their exporters,” NAM Senior Vice President Aric Newhouse said in a statement.

“Denying Ex-Im reauthorization will hurt manufacturers of every size and threaten thousands of U.S. manufacturing jobs. Small and medium-sized companies are particularly vulnerable – both those that receive direct Ex-Im Bank support as well as those that supply larger companies,” said Newhouse.

The Cantor-Hoyer bill extends the life of the bank, whose charter expires May 31, until September 2014. It gradually raises the bank’s loan limit to $140 billion from $100 billion. Cantor negotiated new reporting requirements for the bank and a provision that requires the administration to try to negotiate an end to all export subsidies.

The Cantor-Hoyer bill is broadly similar to a Senate Banking version and has a good chance of clearing the Senate this month if the House passes it. Under suspension of rules, Cantor and Hoyer must find a two-thirds majority on the floor to pass their bill.

—This story was updated at 3:17 p.m.