The Senate voted to extend the Ex-Im Bank’s life.

By a voice vote, the Senate passed and sent to the White House a six-year extension of the Export-Import Bank charter and provided two new tools to support sales of U.S. products overseas. The measure authorizes a $300-million fund that would allow the United States to make grants to foreign purchasers of American goods, a form of “tied aid” used by France, Japan, Belgium, Italy and other nations. The bill also would establish a new program that would allow the bank to finance U.S. exports with a combination of loan guarantees and export subsidies.