Federal Spotlight: Senate Committee Rejects Nominee to Lead Ex-Im Bank

December 21, 2017

The Senate Banking Committee declined to advance the nomination of Scott Garrett to lead the Export-Import Bank by a vote of 10-13 on Tuesday. Two Republicans ultimately joined all of the Democrats on the committee in opposing his nomination. Senators from both sides of aisle grilled Garrett during his hearing before the committee in November.

Garrett is a former Republican Congressman from New Jersey who argued the bank was an example of crony capitalism and worked to abolish it during his time in Congress. The bank lends money to foreign buyers to help boost U.S. exports. The National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce both opposed Garrett’s nomination from moving forward.

According to NBC News, prior to Garrett’s vote, the last time a nominee was voted down by a committee when the majority was the same party as the president was June 5, 1986. The nominee just happened to be now Attorney General Jeff Sessions who at that time was a nominee to be a U.S. District Court judge.