Florida congressmen looking to replace U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in 2016 clashed over the Export-Import Bank reauthorization vote on Tuesday.
The House voted to revive the bank on a 313-118 vote. The Export-Import Bank, the export credit agency for the federal government, offers loans to foreign entities to buy American products.
Republicans were divided on the reauthorization but a slight majority--127 out of 247--voted to support it.
In the Florida delegation, Republican U.S. Reps. Vern Buchanan, Ander Crenshaw, Carlos Curbelo, Mario Diaz-Balart, David Jolly, John Mica, Tom Rooney and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen voted to reauthorize the bank. Florida Republican U.S. Reps. Gus Bilirakis, Curt Clawson, Ron DeSantis, Jeff Miller, Rich Nugent, Bill Posey, Dennis Ross, Dan Webster and Ted Yoho voted against it. U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson was the only Democrat from Florida who voted against the measure while his Senate primary rival U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy backed reauthorization.
Senate hopeful DeSantis took to the House floor to state his opposition to bringing the bank back.
“How rare is it that we actually reduce government around here yet here we are debating resurrecting a defunct agency which has already gone out to pasture,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis slammed Democrats as “central planners” on the economy but called them “consistent.” He turned his fire towards Republicans who backed the reauthorization.
“I can’t understand how members who preach limited government are willing to turn over the floor of the House to the minority party,” DeSantis said. “Spare us all the notion that you’re here to reduce the size and scope of government.”
That drew fire from Jolly’s team as that Tampa Bay congressman continues his Senate bid.
"Congressman Desantis just voted to personally hand out pink slips to thousands of hardworking Floridians just so he could appease the Washington special interests," said Max Goodman, Jolly’s political director.
DeSantis spokesman Barney Keller explained his boss’ vote to the Tampa Bay Times.
"Congressman DeSantis supports less government, defends the interests of taxpayers, and opposes corporate welfare,” Keller said. “Because he favors limited government policies and rejects the D.C.-insider economy in which government picks winners and losers, resurrecting the crony Ex-Im Bank is a non-starter."
On the Democratic side, Grayson was the only member of his party to vote against the reauthorization. Grayson has been very critical of the Export-Import Bank and last year offered a bill to reform it.
"The Ex-Im bank is a bad program," Grayson told the Huffington Post when he brought out his bill last year. "It subsidizes foreign business entities using taxpayer funds in the form of giving them loan guarantees and insurance policies at subsidized rates. We're literally paying foreigners to take away U.S. jobs. It's crazy."
Murphy’s team looked to make political hay out of Senate primary rival Grayson breaking with Democrats and voting with conservatives on the matter.
“Sadly, this is exactly the kind of reckless and irresponsible behavior Floridians have come to expect from Alan Grayson,” Joshua Karp, a spokesman for Murphy, told the Tampa Bay Times. “Rather than support our president and stand united with Democrats, Alan Grayson is the only House Democrat siding with the tea party to oppose the Ex-Im Bank."
DeSantis and Jolly face Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera and businessman Todd Wilcox in the Republican Senate primary. Grayson and Murphy are joined by attorney Pam Keith in the Democratic primary.
Outside the Senate hopefuls, members of the Florida delegation made their cases for or against the bill on Tuesday.
Diaz-Balart noted that his South Florida district led the nation when it came to the number of businesses helped by the Export-Import Bank. While he supported reauthorization, Diaz-Balart called for reforms to the bank.
"Today's passage to re-authorize the Export-Import Bank will help support the American economy,” Diaz-Balart said. “The Export-Import Bank needed serious reforms, and this legislation achieves that by strengthening risk management, increasing small business lending requirements, enforcing greater anti-corruption safeguards. At a time where nations such as China and Russia are subsidizing businesses for exports, I do not think unilaterally disarming efforts to ensure American businesses can compete internationally is in the United States’ best interest, especially back home in Southern Florida.
“I proudly represent the district that ranks number one among all congressional districts by the number of businesses the banks supports,” Diaz-Balart added. “The majority of these businesses are not Fortune 500 companies, but rather small businesses heavily reliant on exports-imports. These small businesses depend on financing from the Export-Import Bank to compete with the heavily subsidized businesses in China and Russia, and provide jobs to individuals in the district. The district ranks number fifteen in the total dollar value of exports supported related to the bank’s financing.
“This bill will not only bolster our national economy, but our local economy as well,” Diaz-Balart insisted. “I will continue to support legislation that will positively impact Florida’s 25th congressional district.”
While a slim majority of congressional Republicans voted to reauthorize the bank, Ross, part of the GOP leadership as senior deputy majority whip, came out against it.
“I voted against the reauthorization of the Ex-Im Bank because the bank does not promote core conservative principles, such as fiscal responsibility and free enterprise,” Ross said after Tuesday’s vote. “Instead, the Ex-Im Bank promotes corporate cronyism and corporate giveaways to foreign governments. I opposed reauthorizing the bank's charter in the past for this very reason.
“The Ex-Im Bank forces taxpayers to bare the risk of loans to private firms and is plagued by corruption and mismanagement,” Ross insisted. “Furthermore, Congress requires 20 percent of Ex-Im’s loans go to small businesses, but Ex-Im consistently failed to meet this statutory requirement. In reality, only 0.009 percent of America’s small businesses received any help at all from Ex-Im. American businesses are strong enough to compete on their own, without taxpayer-funded subsidized financing.
“When elected into office, I promised the hard-working Americans in my district and across the country that I would fight to create jobs, support small business growth, and eliminate fraud and waste in our government and its programs,” Ross said in conclusion. “My vote against reauthorizing the Ex-Im Bank stands firm in those promises, and I will continue upholding conservative principles for the betterment of our great nation and its people.”
The measure now heads to the U.S. Senate. While he was a critic of the bank before his presidency, President Barack Obama is calling for the reauthorization.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
