WASHINGTON:The Congressional Budget Office contends the Ex-Im Bank’s surpluses are the result of the accounting method the bank uses and would disappear or require a taxpayer subsidy if the bank used a more appropriate accounting standard.The bank’s own accounting projects a surplus of about $14 billion through the next decade. However, former CBO director Douglas W. Elmendorf told Congress last year that the Ex-Im Bank will more likely lose $2 billion in the same period using the CBO’s method of accounting.
Ex-Im Bank has been a source of controversy this summer, opening a rift between tea party-backed Republicans who are fighting to close the bank and establishment Republicans who say Ex-Im helps keep U.S. companies competitive in the global economy.
Major business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, are strong backers of the bank, saying the country’s biggest trading rivals offer the same kinds of subsidized financing to their companies.The House blocked reauthorization this summer, which stopped any new loan guarantees. But the bank retained enough funding to continue basic operations.
