What ever happened to Spencer Bachus?
For over 20 years, Birmingham-native Spencer Bachus represented Alabama’s 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, from 1993 to 2015. At one point he was even the Chairman of the prestigious House Financial Services Committee. In 2013, during his 11th consecutive term, he announced his retirement from the House saying he felt it was time to allow others to serve. “It is an honor that I never dreamed could have been possible for me and the words ‘thank you’ are far from adequate,” Bachus told POLITICO. “But as Ecclesiastes 3 says, to everything there is a season and I feel in my heart that now is the time for me to announce this decision and allow others to have the opportunity to serve.” Bachus has been out of the headlines the past few years, until April 2017 when President Donald Trump tapped the former Congressman for a four-year term to serve as a Board member of the Export-Import Bank. During his tenure as chairman of the Financial Service Committee, Bachus was a known supporter of the controversial bank and supported its re-authorization. He even once said the bank “is available to help those small businesses compete and win in the global marketplace.” But Bachus has yet to assume the role as he, and other Ex-Im nominees, wait on the U.S. Senate for approval. In December, nearly eight months after his nomination, the Senate Banking Committee finally approved Bachus and three other appointees, allowing their nominations to be considered on the Senate floor. But that’s yet to happen. The bank is waiting for confirmation of at least three board members in order to resume its daily functions and approval of loans and guarantees above $10 million, which would allow the U.S. to resume export financing for major projects such as commercial aircraft, power turbines and chemical plants for the first time since June 2015.
3 Alabama U.S. House members sign on to rare procedure to revive Ex-Im Bank
Monday night in a rare procedural move, with the support of three Alabama members the U.S. House of Representatives made a play to sidestep Republican leadership in hopes of reviving the Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im), whose charter expired in June. The procedure, known as a “discharge petition,” was last executed 13 years ago and only five times in the past eight decades. It allows lawmakers to bypass committees and House leadership to bring up legislation signed by a majority of the House for a vote on the floor. In order to for the petition to be successful 218 Members, a simple majority, must sign-on. Monday night, 246 members voted in favor of the discharge of H.R. 597: the Export-Import Bank Reform and Reauthorization Act — 62 Republicans and 184 Democrats — nearly 30 more than the necessary 218. Among those Members who signed-on to revive the Ex-Im bank were Rep. Mike Rogers (AL-03), Rep. Robert Aderholt (AL-04), and Rep. Terri Sewell (AL-07). A final vote to extend the bank’s charter through 2019 will likely come to the House floor Tuesday. The bill itself reauthorizes Ex-Im Bank for four more years; sets new, lower, lending caps; aims to increase accountability and transparency at the bank; and directs the president to initiate negotiations to reduce and eventually eliminate government export subsidies worldwide. Beyond the House, the future of the bill lies in the hands of the Senate where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has said he doesn’t plan to bring the bill to the floor for the vote. That could spell trouble for companies across the country, according to the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). NAM contendss the expiration of the bank’s charter left several thousand small and medium-size exporters without adequate access to capital, and without its renewal more than 500 U.S. companies will lose credit insurance from September through December. That could translate to lost jobs. According to the Business Roundtable, in fiscal 2014, the Ex-Im Bank provided financing for exports valued at $27.5 billion that supported about 164,000 US jobs. The Business Council of Alabama says in Alabama Ex-Im Bank has supported 58 companies, more than 3,900 jobs, and $622 million in exports over the last seven years.
U.S. House of Representatives: Oct. 26 – Oct. 30
It’s a week of pressing deadlines in the U.S. House of Representatives because the Speakership must be filled as John Boehner departs the House, the debt limit must be addressed to avoid default and the highway trust fund must be re-authorized in order to continue dispersing money. First up, the Republican caucus will meet Wednesday to select it nominee to fill the vacancy for House Speaker, with the Speaker’s election by the full House slated for Thursday. Boehner is poised to exit Friday after 24 years in Congress. After weeks of back and forth and turmoil surrounding the Speaker’s race, House Ways and Means Committee chairman and 2012 vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is expected to emerge as the new House Speaker should all votes go according to plan. The House is expected to consider legislation to raise or suspend the statutory debt limit. According to the Department of Treasury the United States will run out of borrowing authority by Tuesday, Nov. 3, making a government default is possible unless Congressional action is taken before then. The House is also likely to consider a short-term extension of the authorization of the Highway Trust Fund (HTF). The HTF has enough money to last into 2016, however, the current authorization to continue disbursing funds expires Oct. 29. On Monday and Tuesday, the House is in session and will consider several bills under suspension of the rules. A full list of bills can be found here. Also on the floor this week: H.R. 597: the Export-Import Bank Reform and Reauthorization Act. The bill is eligible for floor consideration on Monday pursuant to a successful discharge petition, where Democrats and several dozen Republicans who support the bank successfully gathered 218 signatures, bypassing the regular procedure of the Majority Leader bringing a bill to the floor. The bill reauthorizes the official export credit agency of the United States for four years; sets new, lower, lending caps; aims to increase accountability and transparency at the bank; and directs the president to initiate negotiations to reduce and eventually eliminate government export subsidies worldwide. The bank’s charter has previously expired at the end of June. Alabama co-sponsors: Rep. Mike Rogers (AL-03); Rep. Robert Aderholt (AL-04) H.R. 1090: the Retail Investor Protection Act. The bill prohibits the Labor Department from implementing a final rule on fiduciary standards for retirement investment advisers until after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) conducts a study and issues a final rule setting standards of conduct for broker-dealers. Alabama co-sponsor: Rep. Mo Brooks (AL-05)
5 things you need to know about Congress this week: 10/9/15
It was another jaw-dropping week on the Hill as Rep. Kevin McCarthy shocked both sides of the aisle in an eleventh hour bailout of the Speaker’s race, leaving questions about who can lead the seemingly fractured House Republican Conference. Here are the five things you need to know that happened in Congress this week: Rep. Kevin McCarthy drops his bed for Speaker In a stunning move, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy withdrew his candidacy for House speaker Thursday, throwing Congress’ Republican leadership into chaos. Why it matters: Not only does the Speaker of the House wield tremendous power in Congress, but they also have even greater potential power, for n the event of a President’s death, the Vice President assumes office; after that, the Speaker of the House moves to the White House. Beyond the obvious power at stake, McCarthy’s move has left the House in turmoil with no clear choice to fill the key post. GOP lawmakers move bipartisan effort to reauthorize Ex-Im Bank forward While many watched as the U.S. Export-Import Bank was pronounced dead on the floor of Congress on June 30 — when its charter expired — a group of House Republicans have been busy trying to resuscitate the bank ever since. Friday, lawmakers backing the Ex-Im Bank gained enough support through a discharge petition to force a reform and reauthorization bill out of committee and on to the House floor for a vote to renew the agency’s charter. Why it matters: The discharge petition is designed to bypass the floor schedule set by Majority Leader. With the House Republican caucus in disarray, the impending vote only adds to the chaos. Senate Democrats unveil sweeping gun control proposal In the wake of yet another school shooting, Senate Democrats unveiled plans Thursday for gun control reforms that include closing background check loopholes, expanding the background check database, and tightening regulations on illegal gun purchases. Why it matters: If President Barack Obama wants to a leave a legacy, signing comprehensive gun reform in to law would certainly make for a large feather in his cap. As Obama heads to Roseburg today, he will meet with the families of the Umpqua Community College shooting and will re-commit to making said gun laws a priority. Already, he’s strongly considering using his executive power to act where Congress won’t by expanding background checks through executive action. Senate OK’s annual defense bill, sends it to the President Wednesday the Senate voted to approve the $612 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), 70 to 27. The NDAA authorizes funding for the Department of Defense and among other provisions includes a pay raise for troops, overhauling the military retirement system, which is currently only available to the 17 percent of service members who serve 20 plus years, and reworking the Pentagon’s acquisition system to improve efficiency and avoid cost overruns. Why it matters: President Obama has threatened to veto the bill. Should he do so, it would be only the fifth time that has happened in the past half-century. Panel established to investigate Planned Parenthood The House established a select panel under the Energy and Commerce Committee to investigate and report on all issues related to medical procedures and practices involving fetal tissue donation and procurement; federal funding and support for abortion providers; and late-term abortions, including partial-birth abortions and medical procedures for the care of “born alive” infants who survive abortion procedures. Why it matters: A series of videos released by the Center for Medical Progress, which contain strong evidence that Planned Parenthood and its affiliates broke the law by engaging in illegal sale of fetal body parts, have created public outrage as to how tax-payer dollars are being spent. Findings unearthed by the committee may potentially damage the future of Planned Parenthood, who’s tax-payer funding is already being questioned.
Daniel Sutter: R.I.P. Export-Import Bank, if we’re lucky
The authorization of the U.S. Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank expired on June 30. Taxpayers can thus celebrate the demise of one of our most offensive corporate welfare programs. Unfortunately corporate welfare programs often prove as hard to kill as Jason from the Friday the 13th movies. Washington politicians are currently working to bring the Ex-Im back to life for a sequel. The Ex-Im Bank was created during the Great Depression to boost our exports. The Bank does so primarily through loans and loan guarantees to foreign companies to use to purchase American products. Many groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, claim that the Ex-Im Bank is good for business. The evidence, however, demonstrates otherwise. The Cato Institute and Mercatus Center at George Mason University have done great work documenting the Bank’s negligible impact on U.S. exports and its role as corporate welfare. Here are some of details, mostly from the Bank’s own data. The $27 billion spent by the Ex-Im Bank in 2013 financed less than 2% of our exports. The Bank directly assisted less than one out of every 200 U.S. exporting firms between 2009 and 2014. In other words, more than 98% of our exports do not require the Bank’s help. And locally, the Ex-Im supported less than 1% of Alabama’s exports. A handful of politically influential corporations receive the lion’s share of benefits: ten companies, led by Boeing and General Electric, received 51% of the Bank’s spending between 2007 and 2014. Some critics refer to the Ex-Im as “Boeing’s Bank,” since the aircraft manufacturer benefits from 35% to 40% of its spending. Many subsidized loans go to large foreign companies that could easily finance purchases from U.S. companies on their own. Proponents like to point to the thousands of small businesses helped by the Bank, but America has over a million small businesses. Over a recent five year span, the Ex-Im directly supported less than half of one percent of U.S. small businesses. Undoubtedly billions of dollars of loans support jobs at Boeing, G.E., and other beneficiary companies. But the Bank hurts employment in other ways. Some of the exports financed by Ex-Im loans are likely diverted from other U.S. firms and do not produce net job growth. Ex-Im Bank loans have harmed some American businesses. U.S. airlines have faced competition from international carriers who charge artificially low fares thanks to their subsidized loans to buy aircraft from Boeing. Delta Airlines attributed a loss of 7,500 jobs to competition funded by American tax dollars. Finally, the taxes to pay for the Ex-Im cost our economy jobs. Programs like the Ex-Im Bank must ultimately prove futile in growing our economy. Taxing Americans to subsidize foreigners to buy our products can only provide a façade of prosperity. Real prosperity occurs when businesses produce goods and services which people, including foreigners, willingly purchase with their own money, and is generated by the 99.5% of U.S. exporters who sell without assistance. The Ex-Im Bank is one of the worst examples of corporate welfare, or crony capitalism. Crony capitalism retains the trappings of competition, with politicians bestowing advantages on favored businesses. A market economy is like a track meet, with firms competing to provide the best goods and services to customers. Crony capitalism is a track meet where the government makes all of the runners – except their favorites – wear fifty pound back packs and combat boots. As costly as corporate welfare is for our economy, the greatest harm may stem from distorting what people believe constitutes free enterprise. If people think that free enterprise necessarily involves favors to enrich businesses, they will reasonably seek government control to reign in business and benefit consumers and workers. The idea of markets entirely free from government intervention may disappear. Our prosperity results from economic freedom, meaning limited government involvement in the economy. Government should create an institutional environment supporting free enterprise, not enrich specific enterprises. Although our nation has never fully lived up to this ideal, the demise of the Export-Import Bank is a step in the right direction, provided that the Bank remains dead. Daniel Sutter is the Charles G. Koch Professor of Economics with the Manuel H. Johnson Center for Political Economy at Troy University and host of Econversations on TrojanVision.
GOP-led Congress prepared to let Export-Import Bank expire
Congressional Republicans are poised to deal a sharp blow to their traditional allies in the business community by allowing the federal Export-Import Bank to go out of business at the end of the month. But it may only be temporary. The 81-year-old bank is a little-known federal agency created during the Depression that makes and guarantees loans to help overseas buyers purchase U.S. products, from airplanes to bridges to baby clothes. Over the past year it’s also become a surprising test of GOP purity, as Tea Party-backed lawmakers and outside conservative groups have denounced the bank as crony capitalism and vowed to get rid of it, pressuring fellow Republicans to go along. “It is the purest form of corporate welfare, where you have a government agency that basically exists to subsidize Boeing airplanes and GE engines and Caterpillar tractors,” said Dan Holler of Heritage Action for America, one of the conservative groups pushing congressional Republicans to stand against the bank. Supporters at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups disagree, arguing that the agency helps many smaller companies and is necessary to keep U.S. businesses competitive, especially because key foreign competitors such as China have generous export credit agencies helping their homegrown industries. “The fact that all the major exporting countries have export credit agencies means American exporters would be competitively disadvantaged if the bank goes away,” said Boeing spokesman Tim Neale. “The opposition has thrown a lot of stuff out there that’s frankly pretty misleading.” The Export-Import Bank, which says it supported $27 billion in U.S. exports last year, still counts supporters in both parties on Capitol Hill. But a number of high-profile Republicans including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., have abandoned past support for the bank under pressure from the party’s conservative wing. Most of the party’s leading presidential candidates have also lined up against reauthorizing the bank. “The Export-Import Bank is essentially welfare for big corporations, both foreign and domestic,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, one of the GOP hopefuls, said in a Wednesday speech at the Heritage Foundation. “Do nothing, let it expire, and end the gravy train for Washington lobbyists on the Export-Import Bank.” Republican House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, a longtime business booster, has pushed his Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, to come up with a plan to reform the bank or wind it down. Hensarling has responded, instead, by pushing for the bank’s charter to expire without a vote June 30. With Congress heading out on recess next week and no prospect of action on the Export-Import Bank before then, Hensarling and fellow tea party conservatives will get their wish. But their victory may be short-lived. Lawmakers of both parties on Capitol Hill expect a reauthorization of the bank could move in the Senate in July. If attached to must-pass legislation extending the federal highway trust fund, it could make it through the House as well. The fate of the Export-Import Bank has become enmeshed in Congress’ contentious debate over trade after Washington Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell withheld her support on a key trade vote last month until she said she got a commitment from McConnell to allow a vote on the bank. What exactly was agreed to is now a matter of dispute on Capitol Hill, and McConnell says he’s already fulfilled his commitment by allowing a symbolic vote on the Export-Import Bank earlier this month that allowed supporters to demonstrate they command at least 65 votes in favor. Still, McConnell and other GOP leaders sound open to adding a reauthorization of the bank to the highway bill next month. “The highway bill, of course, will be open for amendment, and it’s pretty obvious that that would be a place for this vote to occur,” McConnell said Tuesday. Asked about the issue Wednesday, Boehner said: “I think some expectation has been that it’ll come over here on some must-pass bill. The only commitment I’ve made is that if it does, it would be considered under an open process.” Some supporters seem resigned to a brief lapse in the bank’s charter. But some Democrats say even a temporary standstill will jeopardize projects and U.S. jobs. They also question whether Congress has abandoned its habit of solving problems only when a deadline looms – in favor of solving them only after the deadline has come and gone. “There’s a whole lot of people who think that it doesn’t matter; it does matter. It matters to the jobs that are out there. We have $11 billion in credit in the pipeline at the Ex-Im Bank. That $11 billion is now going to be stalled out,” said Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D. “I hope that the message this place gets is do things on time, don’t wait.” Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
