The Export-Import Bank was last reauthorized in September 2014. That authorization expired last night, June 30, at midnight. This puts Ex-Im in a unique position — it is funded through the end of the fiscal year (Sept. 30, 2015); it has more than $100 billion in loans and guarantees outstanding; no legislation has passed terminating it.
So there's little precedent as to how Ex-Im should continue to exist. Ex-Im on Twitter today referred to a "lapse in our authorization," but that's not precise. Under the law, as I explained in a blog post this week, Ex-Im is now in liquidation.
President Obama wants to take Ex-Im out of liquidation and get it back to work subsidizing foreign companies and governments that buy Boeing jets and other U.S. goods.
One worry among conservatives who have opposed Ex-Im is that Ex-Im is still operating as if it is simply on a time-out — that is, is the agency liquidating and winding down as the law requires, or is it just taking a break from finalizing new deals?
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