N.J. critic of Export-Import Bank appointed to overhaul federal credit agency

(National Public Radio Newsworks, Delaware, 16 May 2017) Republicans who want to disband the Export-Import Bank of the United States were heartened during the presidential campaign when candidate Donald Trump indicated he would kill it if he were elected president. Now, President Trump said he supports the bank and the micro-financing it gives U.S. companies. Republican Ryan Costello and other lawmakers from the Delaware Valley are in that corner as well, but are now perplexed by the President's tapping of former U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett to serve on the  bank's board. Garrett, a founding member of the very conservative House Freedom Caucus, has long been a critic of the bank — even voting against its reauthorization. Democrats fear Garrett and Trump are trying to undermine the bank from within. Democrat Brendan Boyle said it's difficult to discern whether Trump is being devious or if he just doled out a favor to a loyalist who recently lost a bid for re-election. "It could just be that there's no forethought in this whatsoever,” Boyle said.