In the News

 

 

By Nicole Duran 

 

 

The latest bane of Tea Party-leaning Republicans is the Export-Import Bank, which helps U.S. companies finance exports. 

 

They want to shutter the 80-year-old bank, whose congressional charter expires Sept. 30, saying it's a waste of taxpayer money that picks winners and losers among U.S. companies. If Congress doesn't reauthorize it, groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce say American businesses will suffer. 

 

The two Wisconsinites on the relevant panel, the House Financial Services Committee, are charting their position on what ultimately will be a showdown between the House and Senate. 

 

Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, believes Congress should reauthorize the bank, which other countries call an export credit agency. Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Weston, whose chairman, Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, wants to end the bank, has a more nuanced approach. 

 

Duffy says he sees both sides of the issue But if Congress ultimately renews the bank's charter, Duffy says it should only do so with significant strings attached. The bank requires "significant reform," he said. 

 

The bank has been under scrutiny for some time but last Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported that four officials are under investigation over allegations of misconduct, including accepting gifts and cash in exchange for government financing. 

 

Moore said that if the bank is not reauthorized, it's another example of how the House Republican leadership is being guided by a small but vocal group of relative newcomers. 

 

"We have heard from a very small but powerful minority of the majority," that we don't need these other things such as the Export-Import Bank, Moore said. "It is amazing. In Wisconsin, the Ex-Im Bank supported the export of $102 million of goods and services from 2012 to 2013," she said. "Nationwide, the Ex-Im Bank helped sustain more than 200,000 jobs by supporting approximately $37 billion in exports last year alone. 

 

"If it wasn't evident before, [Wednesday's] House Financial Services Committee hearing served as a perfect example of the intransigence of many in the Republican Party towards an effort that has traditionally enjoyed bipartisan support," Moore said in a statement after the hearing. "I never would have imagined that Republicans would turn their backs on business, innovation and jobs." 

 

The Senate has yet to take up reauthorization legislation, but last week both Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the Senate should consider the matter on the floor. However, McConnell didn't say that he would ultimately support reauthorizing the bank. 

 

The House's incoming majority leader, Kevin McCarthy of California, said he opposes reauthorizing the bank while Speaker John Boehner of Ohio has been noncommittal on the issue. 

 

 

 

The Veterans Affairs Department responded to the delegation's April 10 letter concerning claims backlogs on June 6, although it wasn't received in the offices of Moore and Duffy until several weeks later. 

 

Shortly before news that approximately 40 veterans died while waiting for care at a Veterans Affairs Department facility in Phoenix, Wisconsin's congressional delegation met with VA officials to discuss claims and appointment backlogs and penned the letter. 

 

The VA has been implementing a new system to track and respond to compensation and pension claims. The Wisconsin delegation is concerned that working the kinks out of the new system is hurting Wisconsin veterans as the Milwaukee office is taking on extra work to make up for less efficient regional offices across the country. 

 

Although the letter spearheaded by Duffy and Moore didn't specifically address that concerns, the VA claimed that its overall efficiency, and the Milwaukee office's, is improving.

 

"The oldest claims initiative demonstrated that using the national capacity to manage workload across the system enables VA to balance resources with incoming work and optimize our capability to deliver timely service," the VA letter read. "Our national approach to workload management is similar to private-sector best practices," it continued. 

 

The letter called the Milwaukee office a "premiere" one, noting that its backlog of compensation claims dropped from its peak of 7,935 in July of 2013 to 3,349 at the end of April. Furthermore, Wisconsin's veterans are waiting 114 days fewer for a decision than they were last July. 

 

"VA continues to prioritize those claims from veterans with the most serious injuries and with critical needs such as homelessness, terminal illness, and extreme financial hardship," the letter also noted.