President Donald Trump said Friday he would nominate former U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett, who had supported closing the U.S. Export-Import Bank, to head the credit agency. Garrett’s fight against the agency was well documented on this blog. Garrett’s considered the agency’s action nothing tantamount to corporate welfare.
Mr. Garrett voted in both 2012 and in 2015 against renewing the charter of the Ex-Im Bank, which guarantees loans for companies that export U.S. products.
Garrett a policy wonk had worked closely with Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R., Texas), the current chair of the House Financial Services Committee who steered the campaign to curtail the Ex-Im Bank. He helped engineer a five-month lapse in the agency’s charter in 2015, and the Ex-Im Bank hasn’t been able to approve financial for deals of more than $10 million for the last two years because Senate Republicans didn’t fill empty board seats, depriving the agency of a quorum.
Garrett’s nomination comes just days after Trump appeared to soften his stance on the bank and said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal he now supported the bank after having been critical of it.
Was expecting Trump to give Garrett an administration job. He deserves is, Good Luck Scott!