Ex-Im Bank's D-Day spurs lobbying campaign to save it

Crain's Chicago Business reports:

The U.S. Export-Import Bank won a reprieve from Congress because its renewal was tucked into a must-pass bill funding the federal government. Next time, the bank will have to fight for survival on its own.

When the lender's charter comes up for reauthorization in June, it will be in a separate bill, and supporters say that's likely to imperil the 80-year-old institution. The bank has a varied history, helping fund the Pan-American Highway, European reconstruction under the Marshall Plan and billions of dollars in exports for Chicago-based Boeing Co.

Setting the vote for June “allows the Ex-Im Bank to have its own stand-alone moment, and that's never a good thing,” said Henrietta Treyz, an analyst with Height Analytics.

Tea Party Republicans, led by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, have made abolishing the agency a litmus test for small-government conservatives, and the fight over the bank's reauthorization will offer a platform for that message next year. Should Republicans win control of the Senate in the Nov. 4 election, the bank could be in even greater jeopardy.

Democrats worry that even if the lender is kept alive beyond June, it could come at a cost to the agency with another short-term reauthorization and more demands for changes, such as lowering its lending limit and agreeing to an audit committee.

Rent-seeking update.