Does Boehner Agree with Conservatives on the Ex-Im Bank?
House Speaker John Boehner has dipped his toe into the Export-Import Bank debate, showing tepid support for House Republicans who want to let the corrupt and outdated program expire.
According to Politico, Boehner told reporters:
“Listen, I support any plan that [House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling] can get through his committee… Whether it would reform the bank, wind it down- but there are thousands of jobs on the line that would disappear pretty quickly if the Ex-Im Bank were to disappear. So I told the chairman he needs to come up with a plan because the risk is, if he does nothing, the Senate is likely to act and then what.”
As the Washington Examiner’s Tim Carney pointed out in a recent column:
“A multi-year wind-down of Ex-Im is exactly what conservative Sen. Mike Lee and Rep. Justin Amash proposed last Congress. The argument for a wind-down is that it would allow subsidized businesses a few years to adapt their business models to ones not so dependent on taxpayer-backed financing.”
Speaker Boehner’s sound bite is a small victory for conservatives in the House who want to end the Ex-Im Bank. But as with all things in Congress, actions speak louder than words.
