US Exim overcame its last difficult hurdle on the path to reauthorisation yesterday (November 5), when bipartisan support pushed it through a House of Representative vote to include its renewal alongside a transportation bill.

The 371-54 vote led to the approval of a six-year transportation funding bill, as well as the renewal of US Exim’s charter through to September 30, 2019. This is in line with a Senate bill passed earlier this year, meaning it has now become very difficult to block the bank’s reauthorisation.

The next step is for both the House and Senate bills to be reviewed by a conference committee, which will ensure they are aligned before sending back a final version to the two chambers for a final vote. After that, all that will be left will be for President Barack Obama to sign off on it – and he has made his support for the bank clear over the years.

US Exim supporters acted fast to push for renewal, less than two weeks after taking it out of the hands of financial services committee chairman Jeb Hensarling – a long-time opponent who was blocking a vote on the matter – through a rarely used legislative process called “discharge petition”, on October 26.

We successfully blocked 10 job-killing amendments offered by opponents of the bank, clearing the way for final passage of this crucial reauthorisation. Congresswoman Maxine Waters

A day later, the House voted overwhelmingly in favour of renewing the bank’s charter (313-118, including 127 Republican votes for the measure), and when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (a bank opponent) reacted by saying he would not devote any floor time to US Exim on its own, the House understood it had no choice but to include US Exim in its upcoming transportation bill.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who led the Democrats’ efforts to renew the bank’s charter, says in a statement: “Those Members who opposed the reauthorisation of [US Exim] are failing to respect and honour the will of the House and the fact that out of the 313 votes to move this legislation forward, 127 were cast by Republicans.  And last night, we successfully blocked 10 job-killing amendments offered by opponents of the bank, clearing the way for final passage of this crucial reauthorisation.”

US Exim closed its doors for new business on June 30, 2015, and since then corporates big and small have been campaigning for its reopening, with Boeing and General Electric at the forefront of the lobbying.