WASHINGTON -- The Senate advanced a proposal to extend the U.S. Export-Import Bank's charter as part of legislation to finance highways and mass transit for three years.
The 67-26 vote during an unusual Sunday session moves forward the Senate's effort to pass the highway bill as the Highway Trust Fund's authorization is set to expire after Friday. The House has passed a different plan, one without an Export-Import Bank renewal, putting pressure on both chambers to consider a short-term extension.
"Time is running short to get a bill through Congress," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said.
Failure to pass a highway bill before the end of the month would mean payments to states for road and bridge projects could soon be reduced and spread out, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said Friday.
"I hope we don't keep perpetuating the problems, and not looking squarely at what the country needs," Foxx told reporters.
Foxx said an expiration of highway funding could trigger 4,000 layoffs at the Transportation Department, including employees at the Federal Highway Administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
As the Highway Trust Fund balance runs low, the U.S. will deliver remaining funds to states based on allocation funding until it's out of money, Foxx said.
"It's definitely not a small impact," he said.
House Republican leaders said last week that they won't consider the Senate measure, which would finance highways and mass transit for three years as part of a six-year policy plan.
The House plan, passed July 15, would fund highways through Dec. 18 with $8.1 billion in revenue gained mostly by tightening tax-compliance rules. The measure is intended to leave time for talks on finding longer-term sources of money for infrastructure.
Opposing the Senate plan is the banking industry, which objects to a provision that would reduce dividends to banks from the Federal Reserve.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., also opposes the Senate's plan to help fund the highway bill by reducing the 6 percent dividend paid by the Fed to member banks. It would be cut to 1.5 percent for banks with more than $1 billion in assets, which is expected to generate more than $16 billion for the highway fund.
Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., is sponsoring the amendment to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank through September 2019.
The Export-Import Bank provides loans, loan guarantees and insurance to aid overseas sales by U.S. companies. The 81-year-old bank, renewed without controversy for decades, is opposed by conservative Republicans who say it benefits only a few large corporations that don't need government assistance.
McConnell, who opposes reauthorizing the bank, on Sunday called it "a New Deal relic that has outlived any usefulness it might have had." He added, "If a project is worthy, private banks will step in to finance it."
McConnell also said that given support for the Export-Import Bank, despite his own opposition, no "special deal" was needed to bring it to a vote.
Kirk's amendment would require the bank to increase the share of its lending that goes to small businesses, mandate an inspector general audit of its risk management practices and create a chief ethics officer for the bank.
The bank can't approve new applications unless Congress acts to revive it, though it can continue work on existing agreements.
Immediately after the Export-Import Bank vote, senators refused to support a bid by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas and a presidential candidate, to override a procedural rule and add an amendment regarding the Iran nuclear talks to the bill.
Several fellow Republicans also rebuked Cruz for accusing McConnell of being a liar Friday after the majority leader announced plans for the Export-Import Bank vote. Cruz insisted that McConnell had promised not to seek a renewal of the bank.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a member of leadership, said Sunday, "There was no misrepresentation made by the majority leader."
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said use of the Senate floor to advance political campaigns "must not be tolerated." Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said overriding the rules would lead to chaos in the chamber.
None of them mentioned Cruz by name, but the target of their remarks was clear.
"Squabbling and sanctimony may be tolerated in other venues and perhaps on the campaign trail, but they have no place among colleagues in the United States Senate," said Hatch, the Senate's president pro tempore.
"The Senate floor has even become a place where senators have singled out colleagues by name to attack them in personal terms, to impugn their character, in blatant disregard for Senate rules," Hatch said.
After Hatch spoke, Cruz rose to defend himself for making the accusation that McConnell had lied when he denied striking a deal to allow the vote to revive the Export-Import Bank.
He said he agreed with Hatch's calls for civility but declared, "Speaking the truth about actions is entirely consistent with civility."
And far from backing down, Cruz reiterated his complaint about McConnell. "My saying so may be uncomfortable but it is a simple fact, entirely consistent with decorum, and no member of this body has disputed that promise was made and that promise was broken."
Cruz's behavior was the latest example of a Republican presidential candidate causing problems for McConnell. In May, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., infuriated fellow Republicans when he forced the temporary expiration of the USAPATRIOT Act when it was up for renewal. Some of Hatch's remarks seemed to apply to him as well.
Also on Sunday, Senate Democrats blocked Republicans' proposal to add a full repeal of President Barack Obama's health care law to the highway measure. The vote was 49-43, with 60 needed to move the amendment forward.
McConnell said Friday that he offered the health care law repeal because the bank "shouldn't be the only vote" on a highway bill amendment.
The majority leader said Sunday that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is "filled with higher costs, fewer choices and broken promises" and "continues to hammer hardworking, middle-class families."
The House has voted about 60 times to repeal or delay all or part of the health care law. The Senate was under Democratic control until January.
Congress adopted a budget in May that would allow Republicans to use a procedure called reconciliation to bypass Democrats and send a repeal of the health care law to the president's desk. Obama would veto that, though, and Democrats would provide enough votes to sustain the veto.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said a vote to repeal the health care law would return to a time when health care was "for the healthy and the wealthy."
"The moment you repeal the Affordable Care Act, millions of Americans lose protections against pre-existing conditions," Wyden said.
Congressional Republicans last month acknowledged that their options were limited in replacing Obamacare after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law's federal subsidies.
Information for this article was contributed by Billy House, Angela Greiling Keane, Kathleen Miller and Jeff Plungis of Bloomberg News and by Erica Werner and Joan Lowy of The Associated Press.
A Section on 07/27/2015