Senate votes to reauthorize Ex-Im Bank

Senators voted to revive the Export-Import Bank on Monday, setting themselves on a crash course with their House counterparts.

Lawmakers voted 64-29 on attaching a reauthorization of the bank’s charter, which expired last month, to a long-term highway bill.

{mosads}The amendment, from Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill), reauthorizes the bank’s charter through the fall of 2019.

Supporters of Export-Import Bank were widely expected to be successful, after getting 67 votes to overcome a procedural hurdle and end debate on the amendment Sunday.

But the move adds another hurdle to an already uphill path for the six-year bill in the House, where Republican leadership has suggested the proposal is dead on arrival.

Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said earlier Monday that the House will not be “taking up the Senate bill,” suggesting that if lawmakers want to avoid a gap in federal infrastructure funding they have to pass a short-term bill.

But Senate Republicans continued to insist otherwise even in the wake of the California lawmakers strong language.

Kirk said Monday evening that “there is no reason” why the House can’t pass the Senate’s highway legislation, including the Ex-Im reauthorization.

“This is the bill we want to pass, and when we get it passed we hope the House will see the light,” Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) told reporters earlier, asked about the Senate legislation’s chances in the lower chamber. 

Meanwhile, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) appeared to dismiss McCarthy’s comments on Monday evening, suggesting they were made “off the cuff.”