scott-garrett
Former Rep. Scott Garrett. (Jonathan D. Salant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
WASHINGTON -- When then-Rep. Scott Garrett sought an eighth term in the U.S. House last fall, almost $4 of every $10 he raised came through an anti-tax, anti-regulation group.
Garrett (R-5th Dist.) lost, and as he awaits Senate action on his nomination by President Donald Trump to lead the Export-Import Bank, that organization, the Club for Growth, is once again lining up behind him.
"Scott Garrett would be a new sheriff in town at the Export-Import Bank," said Club for Growth President David McIntosh, a former U.S. Republican representative from Indiana. "He would clean up the agency's fraud and protect taxpayers."
The Club for Growth raised or contributed $900,636 for Garrett's 2016 election, making it his largest source of campaign cash, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington research group.
Garrett raised $2.4 million for his re-election, half as much as his Democratic challenger, Josh Gottheimer, who brought in a record $4.8 million and won the seat in November.
Last month, Trump nominated Garrett to head an agency that the former lawmaker once called "the epitome of crony capitalism" and joined other conservatives in an attempt to kill it. Trump opposed the Export-Import Bank during the campaign, but changed his mind.
All seven House Democrats from New Jersey have urged the Senate to reject Garrett's nomination.
"The Export-Import Bank is far too important to the United States' economy to place it under the stewardship of such an avowed opponent," the lawmakers wrote. It is unconscionable that the president would nominate Mr. Garrett."
Conservatives said Garrett was the right person to make the needed changes.
"Under Scott Garrett's leadership, we believe the agency will have someone who is dedicated to either eliminating or making much-needed reforms," the American Conservative Union, which backed Garrett's re-election and invited him to speak last year at its annual Conservative Political Action Conference, said in a statement.
The Club for Growth. which in the past called for the bank to disband, suggested Garrett could bring much needed changes.
"For years, the Export-Import Bank has been rife with corruption," McIntosh said. "While some are still shilling for the big corporations who have been its greatest beneficiaries, Scott Garrett will stop cronyism at Ex-Im and introduce the kind of reforms that are consistent with President Trump's pro-growth agenda."
The Export-Import Bank provides government-backed loans to help U.S. businesses sell their products overseas. Last year, the bank helped support $8 billion in U.S. exports and an estimated 52,000 U.S. jobs, according to its annual report.
Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.