REUTERS: U.S. trade bank faces shutdown of new lending as Congress goes on break

BY: David Lawder | 06/26/2015 6:41am | Source: Reuters

U.S. trade bank faces shutdown of new lending as Congress goes on break

The U.S. Export-Import Bank faced an imminent shutdown of its new lending and insurance activities as lawmakers left Washington on Thursday for an 11-day break without renewing the trade lender’s charter. Ex-Im’s authority to make new loans or write new credit and trade guarantees will expire at midnight on June 30, leaving many U.S. exporters scrambling to find alternative financing or withdraw from proposed deals. The bank’s chairman, Fred Hochberg, said that the charter would expire after 81 years largely free of controversy. “It’s hard to believe Ex-Im is going to lapse. But we are,” Hochberg said in a speech to a trade forum on Thursday. Conservative Republicans and influential conservative think-tanks have waged a long campaign to shut down the trade lender, arguing that it constitutes “welfare” to giant, politically connected corporations. To read the full article, please click here