Ex-Im Bank Reopens But Lacks Quorum

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Jackie Calmes, Ex-Im Bank's Is Reopened, but Big Loans Are Stalled; With three board seats empty, deal over $19 million still cannot be approved. New York Times, Dec 8, 2015.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/0 ... ns-are-stalled.html

Quote:

"With three empty seats on its five-member board, the bank lacks a quorum. Until Mr Obama nominates members, and the Republican-controlled Senate confirms them, Ex-Im Bank can only approve small export deals, not the big orders for aircraft, satellites and major manufacturing equipment the bank is best known for — leaving the likes of Boeing, General Electric and Caterpillar in limbo.

"Representative Jeb Hensarling of Texas, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, refused [note the past tense] to have his committee consider legislation for the bank since a majority of Republicans on his panel opposed it. (A majority of all House Republicans were in favor.)  It took a rare procedural gambit — a so-called discharge petition from a bipartisan majority of the House — to wrest a bill from Mr Hensarling’s committee and send it to the floor, where it ultimately was passed last week.

"Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois, a Republican on the Senate banking committee, who defied its chairman, Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, to push for the bank’s renewal.  Mr Shelby and Mr Kirk, both of whom face re-election next year, reflect the variable politics that split Republicans in the Ex-Im Bank debate.  Mr Shelby, who came out against the bank after years of supporting it, does not want to encourage conservative opposition [read; Tea Party] ahead of Alabama’s Republican primary.  Mr Kirk, considered perhaps the most endangered Senate incumbent, must worry more about the November [general, not primary] election in Democrat-leaning Illinois

Note: discharge petition
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discharge_petition