Lawmakers tasked with overseeing the Export-Import Bank have issued a subpoena for records that detail the agency’s internal deliberations, saying they had endured months of “stonewalling” from Chairman Fred Hochberg and other bank officials.
“The taxpayers want to know about the use of their tax dollars, and [Hochberg] wouldn’t give this information,” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told The Daily Signal in an interview today. “It’s part of the overall concern.”
Lawmakers would “like a little more transparency, for goodness sake,” Jordan added.
Investigators with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee subpoenaed the embattled agency Friday, demanding unredacted transcripts from meetings of the Export-Import Bank’s Board of Directors that occurred after January 2012. The committee requested the records in July and August, but the bank refused to comply.
In a letter to Hochberg, the bank’s chairman, four Republicans on the Oversight and Financial Services committees said they would exercise subpoena power to compel Ex-Im’s chief risk officer, chief financial officer and general counsel to appear before congressional investigators for depositions.
Jordan, one of four lawmakers who signed the letter reproduced below, told The Daily Signal:
When you’re talking about the billions of dollars that are used here and this cozy relationship between big companies and big government, we’d like a little more transparency, for goodness sake. Particularly at a time when I do think there’s a chance we can actually wind this program down and ultimately end it.
The letter to Hochberg was signed by Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling of Texas, Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa of California, and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Patrick McHenry of North Carolina; and Jordan, chairman of the Economic Growth Subcommittee.
“When you’re talking about the billions of dollars that are used here and this cozy relationship between big companies and big government, we’d like a little more transparency, for goodness sake,” says @Jim_Jordan.
>>> Lockheed Martin Director Explains Why Ending Export-Import Bank Could Benefit South Carolina
“The bank’s unjustified refusal to make those employees available voluntarily, and the bank’s decision to withhold unredacted transcripts, obstructs Congress’s ability to meet its constitutional obligation to conduct oversight, and at a critical time,” they write.
Ex-Im’s charter was set to expire Sept. 30, but lawmakers agreed to reauthorize the bank until June 30. Ex-Im officials, though, requested a long-term reauthorization and called on Congress to increase the bank’s lending authority.
The embattled agency provides taxpayer-backed loans and loan guarantees to foreign countries and companies for the purchase of U.S. products.
House Republicans, led by Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, continue to express confidence that Congress will end the bank in June.
Congressional investigators said “the information sought by the committee is pertinent to whether the laws establishing the bank are being implemented as Congress intended, whether the laws should be altered, and whether conditions require that the bank should cease operations.”
And Jordan said he hopes bank officials will comply with the subpoena given the uncertain future of Ex-Im:
You would think they’d want to be transparent at a time when this is a big debate in Congress. You’d think they would want to be helpful and transparent. If [bank officials] are really as good as they say they are, hopefully they’ll give us that information.
>>> Export-Import Bank Got Reprieve With No Assurances Its End Is in Sight
Ex-Im’s lack of transparency continues to be a significant issue for many lawmakers, who argue that the agency is an engine of corporate welfare and cronyism. Supporters, however, insist that Ex-Im creates jobs and helps small businesses compete in the global market.
Transcripts from meetings of the bank’s board of directors, previously provided by Ex-Im officials, include redacted information crucial to Congress’s understanding of the bank’s process for approving transactions.
The letter from House leaders refers to documents from a February 2012 board meeting in which reasons for recommending approval of a transaction for aircraft exports were redacted.
The bank’s board, appointed by President Obama and confirmed by the Senate, oversees many of Ex-Im’s procedures and must approve transactions exceeding $100 million.
The redacted information in the transcripts provided to the Financial Services panel shrouds “the deliberations of its board of directors in secrecy,” the lawmakers’ letter states:
In light of … Congress’s clear constitutional authority to examine the bank’s operations, including matters relating to sensitive commercial information and internal bank deliberations, the committees will not countenance the bank’s efforts to impede our ongoing oversight efforts.
>>> Greenspan Joins Ranks of Opponents to Export-Import Bank
Oversight Lawmakers Subpoena Ex-Im Officials by The Heritage Foundation
