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Rep. Holding: Defund the Export-Import Bank
Story Date: 6/15/2015
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Source: US Rep. George Holding (NC-13), 6/14/15
Dear Friend,
The Export-Import Bank was created in 1934 by President Franklin Roosevelt. Its mission, back then, was to help small companies. However, like many of today's government programs, over the years, it has changed. What it was intended to do and what it does today are two different things.
The Export-Import Bank's focus is no longer small businesses. Instead, it primarily provides - as Forbes magazine reports - what amounts to corporate welfare for large corporations.
For example, the Wall Street Journal reported, the Ex-Im Bank guaranteed a $10.3 million loan for the "infamous Solyndra" Corporation - before it went bankrupt.
Even harder to understand, through the Export-Import Bank, American taxpayers have provided loan guarantees to foreign corporations.
According to the Journal, "Ex-Im has provided near record-breaking loans to subsidize a firm co-owned by Saudi Aramco - the world's largest oil company. It provided millions to one-time Washington energy darling Enron. There is a reason for these deals, and for why more than 60% of Ex-Im's money in 2013 benefited just 10 rich companies - it's called politics."
Another Journal report, on April 26th, described how the Ex-Im Bank even guarantees loans for foreign state-sponsored corporations: "Ex-Im has given hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer-backed guarantees to the state-owned Russian bank Vnesheconombank (VEB). Ex-Im only recently suspended new deals after the bank was targeted by American sanctions in the past year."
The article continued: "VEB has a long and sordid history. Known until 2007 as the Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs of the U.S.S.R., VEB maintains an operating agreement with Russian arms exporter Rosoboronexport 'to promote the exports of Russian military products and boost their competitive edge in the world market.' Rosoboronexport also handles more than 80% of Russia's weapon exports. In this capacity, it has become a chief weapons supplier to Bashar Assad's regime in Syria and has supplied advanced missile systems to Iran, according to reporting last year in the newspaper. VEB has said that its practices fully comply with European Union and United Nations sanctions.
"Americans probably assume that Washington wouldn’t use taxpayer money to help a company that supports these regimes. Yet the bank's records indicate that VEB received a $497 million loan guarantee in 2012 and a further $703 million in 2014. American taxpayers still haven't received thank-you cards from President Assad and the mullahs."
I believe that when President Roosevelt pushed for the creation of the Ex-Im Bank in 1934, he did so with the intention of helping America's struggling small business owners dig themselves out of the Great Depression. But in today's world, the Ex-Im Bank no longer does what it was intended to do: help struggling small businesses.
More to the point, American taxpayers subsidizing foreign corporations like this doesn't make a bit of sense. I will vote against authorizing the Export-Import Bank.
Sincerely,
George Holding
Member of Congress
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