Senate Republicans blocked a Senate vote on NCUA Board Member J. Mark McWatters' nomination to the Export-Import Bank Board Thursday.
Senate Banking Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) objected to a unanimous consent agreement offered by Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) to discharge the Senate Banking Committee from considering the nomination.
The procedural move would have allowed the full Senate to vote on the decision. Shelby has refused to bring the McWatters nomination to a vote in the committee.
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Shelby and other opponents of the Ex-Im Bank have blocked McWatters in an effort to keep the bank from conducting business. Opponents have said the Ex-Im Bank's loans amount to corporate welfare.
The bank currently doesn't have a quorum, and without a quorum, it cannot vote on any transaction exceeding $10 million.
"So long as this Senate remains unwilling to close Ex-Im, we should at the very least make sure that it does not have the ability to further advance its cronyist agenda," Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said in a statement.
Thursday's blocked Senate vote did not kill McWatters' nomination; it is still pending before the Senate Banking Committee.
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