The Import-Export Bank Controversy-- Has The GOP Figured Out How To Use Populism Against Corporate Democrats?

The other Jeb

Jeb Hensarling-- who has no Democratic opponent in his R+17 suburban Dallas district-- is the chairman of the Financial Services Committee and has accepted $1,121,622 in legalistic bribes (i.e., "campaign contributions") from the financial sector so far this cycle, the 4th most of any Member of Congress. That's more than Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan ($838,621), more than the new Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy ($804,686) and more than Wall Street's favorite pet Democrat-- and their designee to run the DCCC post-Israel-- Jim Himes ($681,950). Since he was first elected to Congress in 2002, the financial sector has given Hensarling a cool $5,568,931.

Hensarling has his eye on a bigger leadership role than a mere committee chair and he nearly ran against McCarthy for the Majority Leader position but, with the short time span between the end of Cantor and the leadership vote, he was able to read the handwriting on the wall. He's looking to November when he gets a shot at the Speakership. "I think he's going to run in November," a House Republican and longtime Hensarling ally said this week. "And if he runs, he runs for the top spot."

For "movement" conservatives-- those aligned with the tea party and grassroots advocacy groups-- the search for a candidate to vault into the top tier of House Republican leadership always narrows to two lawmakers: Hensarling and Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio. Both are considered ideologically pure. Both are former chairmen of the Republican Study Committee. And both are respected throughout the House GOP.

But Hensarling has two distinct advantages: He is Southern, adding geographical diversity to a leadership team that lacked it until Scalise's win Thursday; and he is considered more electable than Jordan in a conference-wide vote.

Of course, there's another critical difference: Hensarling is ambitious and has already served as the No. 4 in Republican leadership, while Jordan is content as a rank-and-file member and has been emphatic that a leadership job "isn't me."

But running for Speaker as Wall Street's candidate? Perhaps he has to tone that down just a little tiny bit. So how does a Texas corporate whore like Jeb Hensarling play the populist card? The same way political rival Kevin McCarthy is doing: targeting the Export-Import Bank, the government's official credit agency. The mission of the Bank, created in 1934, is to create and sustain U.S. jobs by financing sales of U.S. exports to international buyers and it is forbidden, by law, to compete with private sector lenders, but rather provides financing for transactions that would otherwise not take place because commercial lenders are either unable or unwilling to accept the political or commercial risks inherent in the deal. So where does the right-wing animus come in?

According to Wikipedia, the bank gets criticized for favoring special interests over the U.S. taxpayers who pay for it.

These interests include that of heavily subsidized corporations such as Boeing or Enron as well as those of well-connected foreign governments and nationals (such as a 1996 $120 million low-interest loan to the China National Nuclear Power Corporation) 65% of loan guarantees over 2007 and 2008 went to companies purchasing Boeing aircraft. In 2012, the Bank's loan guarantees became even more skewed, with 82 percent of them going to Boeing customers.

Doug Bandow a Forbes contributor writes, "The agency piously claims not to provide subsidies since it charges fees and interest, but it exists only to offer business a better credit deal than is available in the marketplace. The Bank uses its ability to borrow at government rates to provide loans, loan guarantees, working capital guarantees, and loan insurance."

Although environmental groups oppose the Bank for financing a "fossil fuel binge," rightists like Hensarling and McCarthy (both major Oil Patch activists) oppose the Bank for loans to Green Energy projects like right-wing bête noire Solyndra. As Gregg Sargent explained in the Washington Post this morning, although Chamber of Commerce types want to see the Export-Import Bank reauthorized, "because Tea Party conservatives have made it a litmus test of whether the GOP is on the side of Big Government 'crony capitalism'" and they're threatening to shut down the government again over it. (No, really.)

So Boehner, a Chamber of Commerce shill who has always supported the Bank, says he's leaving the whole thing up to Hensarling now.

“I’m looking forward to the chairman outlining how we’re going to deal with this rather controversial subject, especially in light of some of the employees who were let go, who are accused of kickbacks and other schemes to pad their own pockets,” Boehner said.

Boehner’s comments are significant because when the bank was last reauthorized in 2012, Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia struck a deal directly with Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md. Cantor is now on his way out of power after he lost his re-election bid in a primary earlier this month, and his successor, Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy of California, signaled over the weekend that he favors allowing the bank’s authorization to expire.

When asked on Fox News Sunday whether he would let the bank’s charter expire, McCarthy answered, “Yes, because it’s something that the private sector can be able to do.”

“One of the biggest problems with government is they go and take hard-earned money so others do things the private sector can do. That’s what the Ex-Im Bank does,” he added.

Members in favor of reauthorizing the program had speculated that in Cantor’s absence, Boehner or McCarthy would be the only ones who could force a bill through against Hensarling’s objections. But Boehner said Tuesday that despite his past votes to continue the Ex-Im Bank, he is staying neutral.

…The day after McCarthy threw cold water on the reauthorization, 41 House Republicans signed on to a letter to McCarthy and Boehner calling for passage of an extension before funding expires at the end of September.

Co-signers ran the gamut, from those who are considered more moderate-- Charlie Dent, R-Pa.; Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla.; and Peter T. King, R-N.Y., for example-- to those who tend vote with the conservative contingent of the House GOP Conference-- Tom Rice, R-S.C., and Joe Wilson, R-S.C.

Others who lent their signatures to the memo include staunch Boehner allies, among them Tom Latham of Iowa, Pat Tiberi of Ohio and Tom Cole of Oklahoma and three retiring committee chairmen, Reps. Howard “Buck” McKeon of California, Mike Rogers of Michigan and Doc Hastings of Washington.

The modest but diverse swath of support for the bank’s reauthorization could create some uneasiness in the months ahead should leadership choose to take away its financial support.

On Monday, members were already expressing surprise and concern that McCarthy, their newly-elected No. 2, would so quickly reject the premise of reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank, whereas Cantor was at least offering vague assessments of the situation and saying he would continue to defer to Hensarling.

“Obviously he’s reversed his position, which came as a surprise,” Charles Boustany Jr., R-La., told CQ Roll Call. “It does concern me, and I know it concerns a lot of our small business owners around the country who are looking to grow export opportunities.”

Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo., also said McCarthy’s opposition caught her by surprise, adding that the bank is important to her constituents and district business interests.

“Boeing is in Missouri,” she said of the aircraft manufacturer, “and [the bank] doesn’t cost taxpayers anything, and it helps American companies be competitive and it actually helps a lot of businesses in my district as well.”

Hoyer, the worst of all the House Dems' corporate whores, and his New Dems are pushing reauthorization the hardest. "Congress," he droned, "must take bipartisan action before the Export-Import Bank’s authorization expires so that we can give certainty to businesses and provide important resources to keep American exporters competitive. To do otherwise would greatly hurt our businesses and our economy." Progressives have mixed feelings about the Bank and some may not be stampeded into a pick-a-side partisanship on something that basically subsidizes giant corporations.

UPDATE: Will Any Democrats Stand Up To The Corporatists?

Grayson: "The Export-Import Bank is corporate welfare at its worst… We are extending the full faith and credit of the U.S. government to foreign companies, when we should be extending it to the American middle class instead. When these foreign borrowers go broke one day, as they surely will, our taxpayers will end up on the hook for their debt. And all for the sake of U.S. exports that would have happened anyway."