Export-Import Bank
16 pieces tagged “Export-Import Bank”, newest first.
All Roads Lead to Washington as Congress Resurrects Ex-Im Bank
After allowing the Export-Import Bank of the United States’ charter to lapse June 30, Congress voted to revive it this month on the back of an expensive highway bill. The agency is the modern iteration of a New Deal-era program that mostly extends loans and loan guarantees to foreign companies to buy U.S. goods and services, backed by your hard-earned tax dollars. It’s an outrageous example of corporate welfare for companies with no need of government subsidies, and its reauthorization is yet another sign of how much power the business lobby and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce hold.
A Dangerous Precedent, an Act of Desperation in the Ex-Im Bank Saga
Advocates of crony capitalism just won’t give up. Last Friday, a large block of House Republicans joined Democrats in signing a discharge petition to force revival of the Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) to the House floor. 42 Republicans joined 176 Democrats in signing on to the discharge petition, circumventing the authority of House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling — whose committee has rightfully opposed the bank as corporate welfare.
Of Crickets and Congressmen
Those who take a principled stand in our nation’s capital often find themselves alone with the crickets. Unless you’re the latest cause celebre of the left (see Sen. Elizabeth Warren), taking a stand against business-as-usual big government on Capitol Hill typically means being labeled a radical extremist who is out of touch with the rest of the country. Look no further than the “far-right extremists” in the House who were voted into power several years ago, thanks in large part to the tea party movement, which — albeit imperfectly — recognized that the federal government needs to be corralled before it goes awry.
A Bully on the Congressional Playground
Merriam-Webster’s definition of a bully is: “a blustering browbeating person; especially one habitually cruel to others who are weaker.” Sound familiar, Congress? That’s because this is what General Electric’s Jeffrey Immelt has been doing to you for months, first by threatening to leave the country and withhold contributions and now by threatening to move jobs overseas as retaliation for the end of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. In June, a revolt against the unhealthy marriage between the government and large corporations put the mother of all crony programs, the Ex-Im Bank, in liquidation. Being the second-largest beneficiary of the bank’s largesse and one of the 10 mega-corporations collecting 64 percent of its overall activities, GE is upset. It wasted millions of dollars in lobbying, yet Congress still cut off its access to cheap loans.