In what amounts to little more than a political stunt, Senate Democrats attempted to circumvent the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday and bring a nominee to the Export-Import Bank’s board of directors directly to the floor.
However, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, a Republican from Alabama, objected, killing the effort but triggering a debate from his fellow lawmakers on the merits of the 82-year-old agency.
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., tried to advance nominee Mark McWatters by filing for unanimous consent. Her efforts are the latest in Democrats’ attempts to return the controversial agency back to full operation, as Ex-Im hasn’t been able to approve transactions of more than $10 million for nearly a year.
Ex-Im provides loans and loan guarantees to foreign countries and companies for the purchase of U.S. products.
“The Export-Import Bank represents so much of what the American people resent and despise about Washington, D.C.,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said on the Senate floor Thursday. “This Great Depression-era relic has grown into one of the most treasured favor banks of well-heeled lobbyists, by big government, and for politically favored businesses.”
Lee said the bank benefits less than half of 1 percent of small businesses in the United States, and though Ex-Im cannot approve transactions of more than $10 million—which hurts primarily its largest beneficiaries—small businesses are unlikely to be impacted by the open seats on the bank’s board.
Despite Lee’s objections, Democratic senators urged Shelby, whose committee has jurisdiction over Ex-Im, to move the nomination to the board.
“What really is happening is that those on the other side of the aisle are enabling one individual to thwart the biggest manufacturing economic opportunity that our country has to secure manufacturing jobs in the United States of America,” Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said on the Senate floor.
Cantwell has been one of the bank’s most vocal supporters in the Senate, and her state is home to Boeing, one of the largest beneficiaries of Ex-Im financing.
The bank has frequently been referred to as the “Bank of Boeing,” but because Ex-Im’s board has lacked a quorum, companies, like the airplane manufacturer, seeking financing of more than $10 million have been stymied.
Shelby has for months been sitting on the White House’s most recent nominee, choosing not to move McWatters’ nomination through the committee. In addition to the urging from his colleagues on the other side of the aisle, Shelby has also staved off mounting pressure from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to move on McWatters’ nomination.
Ex-Im’s charter expired last June, and for the first time in the bank’s 82-year history, Congress did not reauthorize the controversial agency.
Lawmakers eventually brought the bank back to life late last year. However, since then, Ex-Im has been crippled in its ability to extend financing to its largest beneficiaries because of empty seats on its board.
The five-member panel must approve all transactions exceeding $10 million, and needs three active members to do so. Currently, just two of the seats on the board are filled.
Obama nominated Patricia Loui-Schmicker to a second term on the board in March 2015, but he withdrew her nomination in January after it sat in Shelby’s Banking Committee.
The White House then nominated McWatters to the board in January. Shelby hasn’t moved his nomination, either.
Despite the two empty seats on its board, the bank is not limited in its ability to extend financing to small businesses, and Ex-Im’s assistance to small businesses was a key talking point of bank supporters during debate over its reauthorization last year.
However, small businesses receive less than 20 percent of Ex-Im’s subsidies, in dollars, according to a 2014 study from The Heritage Foundation and the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.
In the past, Congress has reauthorized the bank with little fanfare. But conservatives in both the House and Senate recently began mounting efforts to end the agency and warn Ex-Im is an engine of cronyism and corporate welfare.
Democrats and more liberal Republicans, meanwhile, argue Ex-Im helps small businesses compete in the global market.