The Trump administration’s effort to expand the role of the International Development Finance Corp. to compete with China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative is threatening to sideline the agency completely, Democrats say.
Congress faces an Oct. 6 deadline to reauthorize the DFC, a financing agency established with bipartisan support during the first Trump administration. If the DFC’s authorities lapse, it will be unable to strike any new deals — a major blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to advance infrastructure, energy and critical minerals projects abroad.
The Senate has a bipartisan reauthorization proposal on the table, but Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee are set to mark up a bill to reauthorize the agency without Democratic support on Wednesday.
Republicans say their bill, introduced last week by Foreign Affairs Chair Brian Mast (R-Fla.), would allow the agency to finance a greater range of projects abroad and give private sector investors certainty by extending the DFC’s authority by six years — goals that have been sought by both parties.
