Tea Party Orgs Push Shutdown Fight Over Something No One Cares About

The conservative activists who played a key role in sparking the government shutdown last fall are waging a similar battle this year, pushing House Republicans to threaten a standoff over a credit agency that a large majority of Americans haven’t heard of or don’t care about.

The Club For Growth and Heritage Action each issued a “key vote” on Wednesday calling on lawmakers to vote against the House GOP’s continuing resolution to keep the government open past Sept. 30. They took issue with the fact that the bill reauthorizes the Export-Import Bank through the end of June 2015 — the activists want to shut it down.

In other words, they’re pushing House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) to threaten a government shutdown — just one month before the midterm election — unless Democrats agree to close down Ex-Im. The bank provides loans and financial products to support U.S. exports abroad.

A Boehner spokesman didn’t return a message seeking comment.

The obvious problem with the strategy is Ex-Im is irrelevant to most Americans regardless of party affiliation: 45 percent of registered voters have never heard of it, and an additional 26 percent are aware that the bank exists but have no opinion of it, according to an August poll conducted by Morning Consult. Just 13 percent expressed an unfavorable view of Ex-Im.

The strategy is politically more dangerous than the quixotic shutdown over Obamacare last year. First, the law was highly unpopular and conservative anxieties over its coming rollout had reached a fever pitch. Second, a shutdown this year would come just one month before the election, potentially jeopardizing Republican hopes of winning control of the Senate.

“Anybody who tries to shut the government down over Ex-Im would be ridiculous,” Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN), who voted against Ex-Im in 2012, told the Wall Street Journal. “This is just not a dinner-table issue.”

The White House and Democratic-led Senate insist Ex-Im must be reauthorized before its charter expires on Sept. 30. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) told reporters on Tuesday he’ll wait to see what the House does, but called Ex-Im “extremely important” and said, “I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that it doesn’t go away.”

Heritage and Club For Growth are activating their members to push lawmakers to close the bank. The groups don’t always get their way but they have strong influence within the House Republican conference. Their vote “scorecards” tend to make GOP incumbents nervous because they often serve as fodder for potential primary opponents seeking to tar them as insufficiently conservative.

Andy Roth, the Club For Growth’s top lobbyist, wrote to lawmakers that “the Club opposes this CR because House GOP leadership has decided to extend the charter of the Export-Import Bank, despite making public statements calling for the Bank to expire. The Club for Growth hopes that Republican leadership eventually follows through on ending the Bank, if that is their committed desire, and we stand ready to work with members in the House and Senate to make that happen in the swiftest way possible.”

The Export-Import Bank has roused the passions of small-government conservatives, who view it as a bastion of corporate welfare and crony capitalism. Prominent Republicans like House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA) and House Budget Chair Paul Ryan (WI) have called for shutting the bank down. But there is a divide in the party as many Republicans want to keep the bank alive.

The funding bill is the first big test for the new House GOP leadership team — Majority Leader McCarthy and Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) — after the departure of Rep. Eric Cantor.