Reuters: Regulatory News: UPDATE 1-U.S. Senate deal clears way for vote on Ex-Im Bank

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UPDATE 1-U.S. Senate deal clears way for vote on Ex-Im Bank May 14th 2012, 23:12 Mon May 14, 2012 7:12pm EDT WASHINGTON May 14 (Reuters) - U.S. Senate leaders, under pressure from business groups, reached a deal on Monday that clears the way for a vote on a bill to renew the soon-to-expire charter of the U.S. Export-Import Bank, which helps finance U.S. exports. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said the Senate would take up the bill on Tuesday and consider five amendments offered by Republicans. Each would require 60 votes to pass, as would the final bill. The legislation would extend the nearly 80-year-old bank's charter through September 2014 and raise its lending cap over the next 16 months to $140 billion, from $100 billion currently. Ex-Im's current charter expires May 31st and bank officials warn they are already near their current lending cap because of record demand for the bank's services in recent years. Democrats control the Senate, 53 to 47, and expect to turn back all the amendments with help from some Republicans. "I believe all five amendments will be defeated and we will then approve the bill and send it to the president to sign," Senator Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, told Reuters in hallway interview off the Senate floor. "We consider them all to be killer amendments that would weaken the bill," Boxer said. The House of Representatives passed the same legislation last week on 330-93 bipartisan vote. If it is changed in the Senate, the bill would have to go back to the House for another vote before it could be sent to President Barack Obama to signed into law. Boeing is the biggest beneficiary of the bank's overseas lending activity. Other top clients include General Electric, Caterpillar and global engineering and construction firm KBR. What is usually a routine reauthorization of the bank became much more complicated this time due partly to concerns raised by the conservative Tea Party wing of the Republican party. Many Republicans elected in 2010 see the bank as unnecessary government inference in the private market even though the bulk of the party still supports the bank, as do leading business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers. The amendments to be considered on Tuesday would curtail the bank's lending activity and potentially phase it out. One amendment offered by Senator Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, would bar Ex-Im financing for projects in any country that holds debt instruments of the United States, knocking out China, India and many other countries. Another measure crafted by Senator David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, would prohibit financing of renewable energy projects and certain fossil fuel projects in foreign countries. A third amendment builds on language in the House bill directing the Treasury Department to pursue negotiations aimed at ending government-backed export financing. It ties increases in Ex-Im Bank's lending cap to progress in those talks. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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