Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Committee on Finance, placed a formal hold in the Senate on the nomination of James Lambright to serve as president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. The hold means the full Senate cannot act on the nomination. Grassley placed the hold because the Export-Import Bank helped to finance the construction of an ethanol plant in Trinidad and Tobago to produce dehydrated ethanol - using wet Brazilian ethanol - for export to the United States. The deal appeared to violate the bank's authorizing statute.
Grassley is concerned that the Export-Import Bank, by possibly not following its authorizing statute in helping to finance the plant in Trinidad and Tobago, is unfairly harming American ethanol producers.
"For months, I've been trying to get a satisfactory explanation from the Export-Import Bank of the United States of why it saw fit to finance this deal," Grassley says. "I haven't been satisfied with the answers I've received. I'm putting a hold on the nomination until the bank commits to appointing an inspector general who will analyze and explain this deal as one of his or her very first acts."
Powered by iNet Solutions Group ©2011 All Rights Reserved.