House votes to revive trade lender, but Senate path unclear

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to renew the Export-Import Bank's charter on Tuesday, but the path for the trade lender's ultimate revival remained unclear in the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell opposes it.

The 313-118 vote, which included a majority of House Republicans and nearly all Democrats, aims to put EXIM back in business offering new loans and guarantees for U.S. exports through Sept. 30, 2019 with some reforms.

EXIM has been effectively idled since its charter expired on June 30, causing some U.S. companies to lose export contracts and move jobs overseas.

"After today’s vote, there is no question where support for EXIM reauthorization stands. Broad, bipartisan majorities in both chambers have now clearly spoken in support of EXIM reauthorization," said Jay Timmons, chief executive of the National Association of Manufacturers.

The trade group and companies large and small have been frustrated by the efforts of conservative Republicans and outside political groups to close the bank, which they say provides "corporate welfare" to elite multinationals such as Boeing Co and General Electric.

House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling had blocked EXIM renewal legislation for months, arguing that the bank hurts some companies, such as Delta Airlines, which has complained that cheap EXIM loans on Boeing aircraft allowed foreign carriers to drive Delta from some routes.

"So much of this support ends up in countries like China and Russia," Hensarling said on Tuesday. "It's stupid for us to subsidize China in the thought that somehow, we are going to compete with China."

The vote was the result of an effective mutiny in the House in which moderate Republicans teamed up with Democrats to invoke a rarely successful procedural maneuver to bypass Hensarling's committee and force the issue to the House floor.

But McConnell said on Tuesday he does not plan to devote any more Senate floor time to EXIM.

McConnell added that the bank's backers could try to attach a renewal bill to a highway funding measure. But the future of the highway measure is unclear, with the Senate in July passing a six-year plan and the House passing another short-term extension.

The House will take up a longer-term transportation bill later this year under prospective new Speaker Paul Ryan, who is widely expected to take over from John Boehner after a vote on Thursday.

Ryan, however, is an ardent EXIM opponent, saying on Tuesday it represented "crony capitalism."

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Peter Cooney and Tom Brown)