Export-Import Bank. During consideration of the defense authorization bill (H.R. 1735), Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) introduced an amendment to reauthorize the U.S. Export-Import Bank through 2019. The bank issued loans and loan guarantees to foreign governments or companies for the purchase of U.S. products.
The Senate rejected a motion to table (kill) Kirk’s amendment on June 10, 2015 by a vote of 31 to 65 (Roll Call 206). We have assigned pluses to the yeas because the federal government has no constitutional authority risking taxpayers’ money to provide loans and terms that the private sector considers too risky to provide. Indeed, U.S. government-backed export financing is a form of corporate welfare, and if the Ex-Im Bank went bust (as happened to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae), the taxpayers would have been stuck holding the bag. The bank’s charter was not reauthorized, and it expired on June 30, 2015.
