House to Mark Up Ex-Im Bank Reauthorization Bill
The House is scheduled to mark up a bill on Oct. 29 that would reauthorize the Export-Import Bank until 2029, increase the bank’s lending authority and introduces a “temporary board” in a situation where the bank lacks a quorum in the future. The bill, introduced by House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., would also rename the bank the Export Finance Agency. Among the most notable portions of the bill is a provision that would increase the bank’s lending power gradually over several years, from $145 billion in 2020 to $175 billion in 2026.
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In May, the Senate confirmed three members of the board of directors to the Ex-Im Bank (see 1905080073), which gave the bank enough directors for a quorum to approve transactions of more than $10 million. The lack of a quorum was one of the reasons the bank’s operations had been hampered since 2015 (see 1905070009). To avoid a similar situation in the future, Waters’ bill would create a temporary board in case of a lack of a quorum. The board would be composed of the U.S. trade representative, the Treasury secretary, the Commerce secretary, certain members of the board of directors and others.
The bill would also block financing of transactions to a range of end-users, including China’s military, China’s Ministry of State Security, people or companies on the Commerce Department’s Entity List, designated individuals under U.S. sanction regimes, the State Department’s debarred list, Treasury’s Specially Designated Nationals List and more.