STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Monday, 27 July 2015

[Demeter]

11. Republicans turn on one another in battle over Export-Import Bank

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republicans-turn-on-one-another-in-battle-over-export-import-bank/2015/07/26/78dd183c-33db-11e5-adf6-7227f3b7b338_story.html

The pitched battle over a relatively unknown federal agency further inflamed the Republican Party’s ideological feud as the Senate voted Sunday to extend the life of the Export-Import Bank over intense conservative objections. On a roll-call vote of 67 to 26, the chamber included language in a federal highway bill that would renew the charter of the bank, which extends loan guarantees to help U.S. corporations sell goods abroad. The vote split the GOP caucus almost evenly and exposed a deep division among the party’s leaders and presidential contenders.

“We serve the people, not our own egos,” Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (Utah), a 39-year member of the chamber, said before the vote. His speech served as a rebuke to a trio of first-term senators who are running for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, with a sharp focus on Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.), who on Friday accused Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) of lying about his intentions regarding the Ex-Im amendment. The fight over the bank has taken on a life of its own in some corners of the conservative movement, particularly among tea party activists who are trying to move Republicans away from their traditional support for corporate America. Opponents of the amendment such as Cruz deride the bank as a form of corporate welfare, particularly in its help for major corporations such as Boeing in its bid to sell jets overseas. Supporters say that dozens of other countries use similar agencies to prop up their companies in the global markets, noting that many U.S. jobs are linked to global trade backed by Ex-Im loans.

The Ex-Im Bank’s charter expired June 30 because House conservatives blocked any vote to allow it to issue new loans. In the 4 1/2 years since taking control of the House, including the past seven months in the Senate majority, Republicans can count the bank’s shuttering as the only significant federal agency to close on their watch. Sunday’s vote did little to guarantee that the bank would resume business as usual anytime soon. The underlying highway bill remains anathema to many House Republicans, not just because of the Ex-Im language. The Senate’s proposed three-year plan does not meet the usual six-year authorization for highway funding, and its policy prescriptions differ from those backed by members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The trust fund for highway programs will dry up Friday, just as Congress is slated to begin a nearly six-week recess. If the House cannot approve the Senate highway plan, then McConnell may have no choice but to pass the House’s short-term extension of highway funding to buy more time to craft a six-year plan.

The House bill does not include extending the Ex-Im charter, which would leave the agency in a continued state of limbo: It can continue administering the loans it already has guaranteed but cannot do new loan work.

TED CRUZ ROCKING THE BOAT AT LINK