The chairman of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee will decide in a "week or so" whether to try to extend the Export-Import Bank's term, which runs out at the end of June. Republican Richard Shelby said he did not intend to take up a bipartisan reauthorization bill put forward by committee members, seen as the best hope to throw the bank a lifeline. He said he had "deep reservations" about reauthorizing the bank, which provides support to U.S. exporters and buyers of U.S. goods such as Boeing Co planes, in its current form. "The Export Import bank begs for reform," he told reporters after a hearing in which Republican lawmakers sparred with Ex-Im Chairman Fred Hochberg over the bank's business practices. Conservatives in Congress want to let the U.S. export credit agency's mandate lapse when its current term expires on June 30 and accuse it of favoring big businesses. Democrats support the bank and say it provides vital support to small firms. Shelby said he might present his own reform bill and would make a decision on next steps "in the next week or so." The House of Representatives has scheduled no vote on legislation to renew the bank's term, and trade experts increasingly see a forced closure at the end of June as likely, even if only temporarily.