Ex-Im Bank nomination advances

The Senate Banking Committee approves Trump’s pick of Kimberly Reed as president.    The Senate Banking Committee unanimously voted to advance President Trump’s nomination of Kimberly Reed for a full Senate vote to serve as the next president of the U.S. Export-Import Bank.
   “Ms. Reed has had a distinguished career in public service, previously serving as a senior adviser to former Treasury Secretaries Paulson and Snow, as well as on several congressional committees,” said Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, in a statement. 
   “During her nomination hearing, she committed to focusing on strong standards of conduct, increased transparency, sound risk management practices and eliminating waste, fraud and abuse,” he added.
   Reed was moved up from her initial nomination to be Ex-Im Bank’s first vice president after the Senate committee last December voted to reject the president’s first nominee for bank president, Scott Garrett. 
   Trump nominated Garrett, a former Capitol Hill lawmaker from New Jersey, to serve as Ex-Im Bank chairman in mid-April 2017. Several industry associations, namely the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Aerospace Industries Association and Ohio Manufacturers Association, almost immediately started calling for Garrett’s nomination to be withdrawn.
   Prior to her nomination, Reed served as president of the International Food Information Council Foundation and before that was senior adviser to U.S. Treasury Secretaries John Snow and Henry Paulson, and led the U.S. Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund.
   The industry has applauded Reed’s nomination to Ex-Im Bank president. 
   “Kimberly Reed is the qualified leader manufacturers need at the helm of the Ex-Im Bank, and the full Senate should confirm her without delay,” said NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons in a statement. “In Kimberly Reed, President Trump has put forward a nominee who shares his belief in the mission of the Ex-Im Bank. Every senator who supports American manufacturing workers should support Kimberly Reed.”
   Timmons also urged the full Senate to confirm the president’s three nominees to the Ex-Im Bank board. 
   “Once Kimberly Reed is confirmed, she’ll need a quorum to implement reforms and get the bank fully functioning again — empowering manufacturers of all sizes to compete in the global economy and win deals and jobs for American workers,” he said.
   For more than two years, Ex-Im Bank has operated without a quorum of at least three board members, meaning that it cannot approve any financial transactions above $10 million. Many U.S. exporters — large and small — have complained that they have been left unable to compete with other overseas companies for significant export deals, particularly in developing countries.