Ex-Im Bank

When Democratic presidential candidate Bernard Sanders' campaign blasted fellow candidate Hillary Clinton this weekend for her support for the Export-Import Bank, it was highlighting an issue on which he stood alone among Senate Democratic caucus members.  

"The Export-Import Bank provides corporate welfare to some of the largest multi-national corporations that are moving jobs to China and stashing their profits in tax havens like the Cayman Islands," policy director Warren Gunnels said in a statement issued ahead of a Democratic debate in Flint, Mich.  

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell may be on the verge of earning praise from one of his biggest critics, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, by doing one small thing: Nothing.  

Earlier this month, Export-Import Bank supporters in the House — mostly Democrats and a minority group of Republicans — used the rarely successful discharge petition to secure a future vote on reauthorization. With it appearing to have enough support in the House, McConnell is one of the few things blocking the bank from coming back to life.  The Kentucky Republican's office has said he won't devote floor time to a bill he doesn't support. And unless it survives a conference committee on the highway bill, or some type of legislative jujitsu in the House, Ex-Im Bank reauthorization will die with McConnell holding the smoking gun.  

Updated 4:57 p.m. | In a pair of losses for conservatives, the Senate voted overwhelmingly Sunday to revive the Export-Import Bank while failing to overcome a filibuster of an attempt to repeal Obamacare — with more fireworks to come.  

The rare Sunday votes set the stage for the Senate to send a long-term highway bill tied to the Ex-Im Bank to the House later this week, but not before facing other gambits by conservatives, including a procedural vote forced by Sen. Ted Cruz regarding the Iran deal and an effort to deploy a maneuver akin to the "nuclear option." The Senate quickly adjourned for the night after holding the series of votes. The Obamacare repeal failed 49-43, well shy of the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster and attach the repeal to the bill aimed at avoiding a highway program shutdown at the end of July.  

It looks like the Export-Import Bank will hitch a ride on the highway bill.  

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday the highway bill would be the "obvious place" for a vote to keep the bank alive. That'd be over the objections of one Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who ripped GOP leaders earlier Tuesday and demanded they commit to killing the bank . Ex-Im Bank May Be Attached to Highway Bill

A filibuster-proof Senate majority backed the Export-Import Bank Wednesday night, but prospects for extending its charter before it expires at the end of the month remain doubtful.  

Sixty-five senators, including 22 Republicans, backed an amendment to extend the bank in a test vote, while 31 voted to kill it.