Politico: GOP Divided on Trump's Ex-Im Bank Chair Pick

Republicans are divided over President Donald Trump's nomination of former Rep. Scott Garrett to chair the Export-Import Bank, Politico reported.

Garrett, the former chairman of a powerful subcommittee that regulates banks, is not popular because of his past attempts to shut down the Ex-Im bank and for his record on gay rights. Some groups have lobbied Republican senators to not move forward with a hearing and confirmation votes, while other groups who back Garrett have warned about failing to advance the nomination and are helping push it forward.

"The logjam over the Ex-Im Bank is just the most recent battle in the ongoing ideological war within the GOP between its pro-business wing and the free-market absolutists," Compass Point analyst Isaac Boltansky told Politico. "The divides among congressional Republicans appear to be deepening, and I am left with the sense that for some issues, the GOP is closer to a coalition government than a unified party."

At least three GOP senators are on the fence about Garrett, the exact number needed to block his nomination if Democrats were to uniformly oppose him. Trump's relationship with the GOP is in disarray, highlighted recently by most lawmakers' disagreement with the president on his comments about the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

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