Boehner: I denied Dem’s request on Ex-Im vote

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) reached out to Speaker John Boehner, the Ohio Republican said Thursday, asking him to give his word the House would soon hold a vote to reauthorize the expiring Export-Import Bank.

{mosads}No way, Boehner told her.

“She has contacted me and I told her I would not make that commitment,” Boehner said at a news conference.

A group of Democrats led by Cantwell and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) had been holding up a major trade bill in the Senate, demanding that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) promise to allow a vote to renew the Ex-Im Bank before its charter expires at the end of June.

After McConnell made the commitment on Ex-Im Thursday, Cantwell and other pro-trade Democrats voted to advance the trade legislation past a key procedural hurdle — setting up a final vote.

Asked why McConnell made the commitment but Boehner chose not to, the Speaker said their differences are “nothing new.”

“I have my issues in my chamber; he has his issues in his chamber,” Boehner said. “I’ve got 435 members who have their opinions, and he has 100 members who have their opinions.”

The Speaker supports reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank, but his top two deputies — Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) — do not.

Boehner said he’s recently spoken about the bank to Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), an Ex-Im opponent whose panel oversees the institution.

“The only commitment I’ve made is to Chairman Hensarling that if the Senate sent a bill over, that there would be an open-amendment process and the House would be allowed to work its will,” Boehner said.

“That is the only commitment that has been made.”

Kevin Cirilli contributed to this story.

This story was updated at 4:15 p.m.