Panel Rejects Nominee to Lead Ex-Im Bank

The Senate Banking Committee in December rejected President Trump’s nominee to lead the Export-Import Bank.

The panel, in a 10-13 vote, declined to advance the nomination of Scott Garrett, a former Republican congressman from New Jersey.

Two Republicans joined Democrats in opposing the nominee.

While in the House, Garrett was among the conservatives who persistently tried to shut down the Ex-Im Bank on the grounds that its “crony capitalism distorts the market to help some of America’s biggest companies.”

At his confirmation hearing last month, senators from both parties grilled Garrett over his push to disband the Ex-Im Bank. They questioned whether his views had changed and asked why he should be allowed to lead the agency.

Garrett vowed that he would let the bank “continue to fully operate,” but many of the senators were unconvinced.

Senator Mike Rounds (S.D.), one of the Republicans who opposed Garrett, said he did so “because I believe he’s a principled man who simply believes in the abolishment of the bank … I think that strong desire on his part to see it abolished as an example of crony capitalism would not have worked in the operation of the bank.”

Rounds said he wants to work with the White House to find a chairman who would work to reform the bank rather than kill it.

Marc Short, the White House’s legislative affairs director, said the White House will “work with the committee on a path forward.”

The Ex-Im Bank lends money to foreign buyers to promote U.S. exports.

Major business groups in Washington, including the National Association of Manufacturers, waged an aggressive campaign against Garrett, accusing him of harboring an ideological agenda for the agency.

Source: The Hill