Import-Export Bank’s Fate Remains Uncertain

Fending off a base-breaking fight in the run-up to the 2o14 elections where Republicans hold a strong chance of victory in both the House and Senate, Export-Import bank has gotten a six-month stay of execution.

The private-public entity, which finances trade for U.S. business operating overseas where credit might be otherwise difficult to secure, has faced a difficult road through 2014 as the question of its re-charter (usually a piece of administrative business for the Congress since in most political climates the Ex-Im bank is not politically contentious) has touched off a difference of opinion in the Republican party’s base.

“Chamber of Commerce” Republicans favor the Ex-Im bank as a pro-business measure, while “Tea-Party” Republicans frown on the institution as a form of corporate welfare funded at taxpayer expense.

In point of fact, the Ex-Imp bank does not cost taxpayers money as it is revenue generating.

The fight has also brought out some big-business opponents to the Ex-Im bank–Delta recently complain that it was used to undwrite massive deals between Boeing and Middle Eastern powers that frankly do not need the financing assistance.

““Emirates [airline] is backed by Dubai’s ruling family. It is not subject to corporate or income taxes, and it is not subject to a wide range of fees and excise taxes in the United Arab Emirates that are imposed on U.S. airlines in their home jurisdiction,” Delta CEO Richard Anderson testified before the House Financial Services Committee, reports the Atlanta Journal Constitution.