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House Republican leaders are considering a short-term extension of the U.S. Export-Import Bank amid a dispute with Tea Party-aligned members who want to let the 80-year-old agency lapse Sept. 30.

Leaders are discussing an extension of several months, said a Republican aide who asked yesterday not to be identified because no plans have been made public.

While Export-Import Bank President Fred Hochberg is pushing for reauthorization, he said a short-term extension wouldnt resolve uncertainty for foreign companies that rely on its help to buy U.S. goods.

Business people dont work six weeks at a time, Hochberg said in an Aug. 21 interview. I understand Congress, but thats not the real world of business. Thats not the world of profits and loss, sales and employment. Thats legislative language.

The Export-Import Bank provides loan guarantees, loans and insurance to help foreign companies buy U.S. goods. Without a reauthorization, the agency wouldnt be able to authorize new loans though it still could manage existing loans and contracts.

Hochberg said a short-term reauthorization of the bank would signal to foreign competitors a lot of hand-wringing in America about what to do about this.

Opposition to reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank is a litmus test for some House Republicans pushing for a smaller government. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling has called Ex-Im crony capitalism for its frequent business with Boeing Co. (BA)

House Speaker John Boehner is trying to diminish party differences before the November congressional elections.

Even a short extension would show movement by Hensarling, 57, of Texas and other Republicans who have called for abolishing the agency and relying on the private sector to fill its role.

If you wanted to kill it, this is the best time to kill it, said Tom Davis, a former Republican congressman from Virginia. A willingness to consider a short extension would show they want to ruffle as few feathers before the election as possible, he said.

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Export-Import Plan Said to Be Short on Loan Certainty

Independent U.S. Senate candidate Greg Orman earned the endorsement Wednesday of a Kansas organization of about 70 former Republican elected officials who believe bipartisanship is required to break political gridlock in Congress.

The board of Traditional Republicans for Common Sense, with members who boast more than 700 years of legislative service, opted for Orman over incumbent Republican Pat Roberts and Democratic nominee Chad Taylor, who dropped out of the campaign Wednesday.

"We believe Greg Orman is the best qualified candidate for the office of United States senator from Kansas," said Jim Yonally, chairman of the group. "Our members know leadership, because theyve been in leadership. Theyve been on the front line."

Orman said during a news conference in Topeka that he welcomed support of GOP leaders who represented an era of Kansas politics that focused on collaboration to resolve challenges rather than promotion of partisan division.

"I consider myself an independent, pragmatic problem solver," Orman said. "Kansas voters are frustrated. They look at what is going on in Washington today and they realize that as a country we're ignoring our problems. We're not getting things done."

Leroy Towns, spokesman for Roberts' re-election campaign, said some members of Traditional Republicans for Common Sense had revealed their true colors by endorsing Democrat Paul Davis for governor rather than backing Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.

Towns accused Orman of deceptive campaigning by claimingsupport from Traditional Republicans for Common Sense while some individuals listed as members of that organization were supporting Roberts' re-election. He said former U.S. Rep. Jan Meyers, former state Sen. Bob Marshall and former state Rep. John Golden fit that mold.

"This is just more deception from a candidate who wants voters to believe he is a nonpartisan independent when, in fact, he is a liberal Democrat by experience and by philosophy," he said.

Meyers, in a statement provided by the Roberts campaign, said she hadnt endorsed Orman.

"Quite to the contrary," she said, "I am voting for Pat Roberts and wholeheartedly endorse Pat for re-election."

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Republican group endorses Orman for Senate

DENVER Senate candidate Cory Gardner has released a pair of campaign ads reaching out to Colorado's all-important centrist voters, who have soured on some GOP positions, and cast himself as a "new kind of Republican" who supports over-the-counter birth control pills and renewable energy.

The TV spots released this week come in a close race against Democratic Sen. Mark Udall in a swing state that has become increasingly reluctant to elect conservatives as coastal transplants have pushed the politics to the left.

Democrats have won every top-of-the-ticket statewide race in Colorado since 2004, and Udall and his allies have followed the established playbook by attacking Gardner as being against reproductive rights and the environment.

But Gardner, a U.S. House representative, has hit back with his new ads.

In the first, which launched Monday, Gardner walks past wind turbines and asks, "So what's a Republican, like me, doing at a wind farm?" He notes that he co-authored legislation, backed by a former Democratic governor, to create a state agency to support new Colorado renewable energy businesses. The ad's female narrator calls Gardner "a new kind of Republican."

Then, in a spot unveiled Tuesday, Gardner, who is anti-abortion, highlights his proposal to make birth control pills available without a prescription. Gardner tells a mostly-female audience in the ad that Udall "wants to keep government bureaucrats between you and your health care plan."

Gardner's campaign and other conservatives say the congressman is responding to a Democratic caricature of his positions.

But Democrats say Gardner is trying to sell himself as a centrist in the line of Udall, a well-known environmentalist and abortion rights supporter.

They noted that Gardner's birth control ad comes after Udall and others hammered him for his prior support of measures that could outlaw some forms of birth control. Gardner has since disavowed one of the criticized proposals.

"Unlike Congressman Gardner, I don't see access to contraception and family planning services as election-year gimmicks," Udall said in a statement. "They're fundamental rights that we must protect. And Coloradans know that I'll do just that."

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Cory Gardner says he's 'a new kind of Republican'

Zee Media Special: Pakistan #39;s democracy at stake?
"Nawaz Sharif is a fascist and does not believe in democracy...In democracy, peaceful protest is our right," he said, adding, "Those who say we shouldn #39;t hav...

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Zee Media Special: Pakistan's democracy at stake? - Video

China rules out full democracy for Hong Kong
Pro-democracy activists take to the streets of Hong Kong after China rejects their demands for free elections. Vanessa Johnston reports. Subscribe: http://smarturl.it/reuterssubscribe More...

By: Reuters

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China rules out full democracy for Hong Kong - Video