Industry says Garrett can’t be trusted to lead Ex-Im Bank

No matter what former New Jersey Congressman Scott Garrett says about the U.S. Export-Import Bank during his nomination hearing before the Senate Banking Committee today, many U.S. manufacturers and exporters aren’t buying it.    No matter what former New Jersey Congressman Scott Garrett says about the U.S. Export-Import Bank during his nomination hearing before the Senate Banking Committee today, many U.S. manufacturers and exporters aren’t buying it.
   Garrett, who was an ardent supporter of shutting down Ex-Im Bank during his years in Congress, was picked by President Trump earlier this year to serve as the financial institution’s next chairman.
   Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, and one of Garrett’s most outspoken critics, referred to Garrett’s nomination to Ex-Im Bank chief as “the worst of the Washington swamp,” and further called him a “swamp creature.”
   “Manufacturers don’t believe he can be trusted,” Timmons said.
   Many U.S. manufacturers have relied on the Ex-Im Bank to help finance multimillion-dollar export deals, particularly with customers in developing countries.
   In the summer of 2015, Garrett and a small group of Capitol Hill lawmakers managed to temporarily close Ex-Im Bank, but on Dec. 3, 2015, Congress restored the bank’s operations by reauthorizing its charter as part of a long-term transportation bill. The bank reauthorization will remain in effect until Sept. 30, 2019.
   However, Ex-Im Bank has lacked a three-board member quorum to approve financing deals of more than $10 million, effectively putting $30 billion of export projects requiring the bank’s financing on hold.
   Along with Garrett, Trump has nominated a full slate of Ex-Im Bank board members. They include Kimberly Reed, Claudia Slacik and Judith Pryor, who also appeared today before Senate Banking Committee.
   In prepared testimony, Garrett told the Senate Banking Committee that, if confirmed, “the Export-Import bank will continue to fully operate, point blank.”
   He acknowledged that many Senate Banking Committee members support Ex-Im Bank’s operation. “So, let me again be clear, and leave no doubt in anyone’s mind; that I commit to and will carry out the president’s vision regarding Ex-Im: a fully functioning bank,” Garrett said.
   However, Senate Banking Committee’s Ranking Member Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said at the start of the 10 a.m. hearing that putting Garrett in charge of the Ex-Im Bank is “like putting an arsonist in charge of the fire department.”
   Brown asked whether Garrett if he has retracted his previous position on the Ex-Im Bank. Garrett responded that his past record was a “matter of prior record,” but will support a fully functioning bank.
   Sen. Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., also an outspoken critic of the Ex-Im Bank, said he remains concerned that the bank values risk for transactions below the private sector, thus winning business. He added that he will confirm the nominees, but if Garrett’s is rejected he will do everything in his power to ensure the bank does not achieve a quorum.
   Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., warned that “corporate welfare” and “crony capitalism” for large corporations still persists at Ex-Im Bank, and remains opposed to the bank’s continued operation. However, he said “I believe Mr. Garrett is a man of principle” and, like Toomey, will oppose the process toward the bank reaching a quorum if he is not confirmed.