http://www.freedomworks.org/content/top-ten-reasons-let-export-import-bank-expire
Top Ten Reasons to Let the Export-Import Bank Expire
By Josh Withrow
1. It Has Outlived Its Purpose The Ex-Im Bank was founded 80 years ago by FDR to promote U.S. manufacturing during the Great Depression. Meanwhile, in the 2010s, U.S. exports have been setting record highs – they don't need government help.
2. It Lets Government Pick Winners and Losers Although Ex-Im claims to pick its recipients in a neutral manner, the reality is that political pressures strongly affect who receives its financial backing. For example, in 2009 the Obama administration gave Ex-Im a "green energy" quota for a portion of its loans.
3. Its Risky Loans Put it in Danger of Needing Taxpayer Bailouts The Ex-Im Bank's purpose is specifically to promote exports by guaranteeing companies loans that are not in competition with the free market. But if these companies can't get loans on the free market, that means that they are inherently riskier than private lenders are willing to accept, with taxpayers on the hook if they fail. Ex-Im already needed a bailout once, in 1987, and with a history of making loans to companies like Solyndra it could happen again.
4. It Costs Taxpayers Money Annually Thanks to government accounting gimmicks, the Ex-Im Bank claims that they don't actually cost the government any money. But if you use the same true-value accounting that private companies must use, it turns out the Ex-Im will actually cost taxpayers $2 billion over the next decade.
5. Most of Its Funding Goes to Big Corporations Who Don't Need the Money An examination of Ex-Im's books show that a large majority of Ex-Im's financial backing goes to a small handful of multinational corporations (Boeing, General Electric, Caterpillar, Bechtel, etc.). These companies are massively profitable and certainly don't need help from taxpayers to export their goods.
6. It Lets Foreign Corporations Undercut U.S. Competitors What people see with Ex-Im is the exports that get subsidized and sold overseas. What they don't see is how foreign corporations can use those cheaper goods them to undercut their U.S. competitors.
7. It Only Benefits a Few States, but Every State Bears the Costs Just as the Ex-Im Bank only benefits a tiny fraction of the nation's total exports, fewer than ten states have any significant amount of their imports subsidized by Ex-Im. Yet the citizens of every state must bear the costs.
8. It Is Prone to Corruption Whenever you involve the government in handing out money, there's a strong possibility corruption will ensue. Sure enough, several Ex-Im Bank officials are under investigation for allegedly taking kickbacks in exchange for steering loans to certain companies.
9. There Are Better Ways to Help U.S. Manufacturers If the government wants to see U.S. jobs and exports skyrocket, it should lower and simplify the tax and regulatory burden U.S. companies face. Our corporate taxes are the highest in the developed world, which makes our businesses uncompetitive in a global economy.
10. It Is Unnecessary Based on all of the above criteria, the Export Import Bank of the United States cannot justify its continued existence. It's also one of the easiest programs to retire, as its authorization expires in September 2014 if Congress simply does nothing.
Tell Your Members of Congress to End Ex-Im!
Tags export-import bank, ex-im bank
Ex-Im Bank Top 10.pdf
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Congress is Destroying our Constitution and Bankrupts America
BY Ted Abram
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is correct. The $1.4 trillion Omnibus Spending package is a "piece of garbage."
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Key Vote
Key Vote NO on Nominees to the Export-Import Bank
On behalf of our activist community, I urge you to contact your senators and ask them to vote NO on the nominations of Kimberly Reed to serve as President of the Export-Import Bank and Judith Pryor and Spencer Bauchus to serve as members of the Board of Directors to the Export-Import Bank. The Export-Import Bank has operated without a quorum since July 2015. That should not change. The Export-Import Bank has been the face of cronyism, and, with a reauthorization deadline looming, conservatives and libertarians must push back against congressional attempts to reestablish a quorum and reauthorize the Bank.
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Boeing Marches Onward Under a Cronyist Banner
Competition is the hallmark of our economy. It promotes freedom of choice, innovation, and will lead to better products and prices for consumers. Not only that, but it is a key driver of job growth for Americans.
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Support the Export-Import Bank Termination Act, H.R. 3114
On behalf of our activist community, I urge you to contact your representative and urge him or her to cosponsor the Export-Import Bank Termination Act, H.R. 3114, sponsored by Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.). Several other House conservatives have cosponsored the bill, including Reps. Dave Brat (R-Va.), Michael Burgess (R-Texas), Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), and Tom McClintock (R-Calif.). The bill would abolish the Export-Import Bank, a relic of the New Deal and the face of cronyism.
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Boeing Doesn't Have a Case Against Bombardier
Boeing, the very same company, that received a whopping $7.4 billion in long-term loan guarantees from the Import-Export bank in 2014 recently submitted a formal U.S. trade complaint against Bombardier, a Canadian aircraft company on May 18 for its unfair trade practices. The pot calling the kettle black is an understatement when referring to Boeing's complaint against Bombardier.
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Key Vote NO on the Highway Conference Bill and Ex-Im Reauthorization
On behalf of our over 6.9 million activists nationwide, I urge you to call your senators and representative and ask them to vote NO on the highway bill conference report, which has been renamed the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. This bill would not only fund the insolvent Highway Trust Fund without any reforms to prevent future bailouts, it would also reauthorize the expired crony-capitalist feeding trough, the U.S. Export-Import Bank.
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FreedomWorks' Statement on the Federal Highway Bill and Ex-Im Reauthorization
Ahead of expected votes on the federal highway bill, which will likely include reauthorization of the crony Export-Import Bank, FreedomWorks National Director of Grassroots Noah Wall commented:
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FreedomWorks Key Vote NO on the Highway Bill and Its Re-Authorization of the Ex-Im Bank
On behalf of our over 6.9 million activists nationwide, I urge you to call your representative and ask him or her to vote NO on the DRIVE Act, H.R. 22. This bill would not only bail out the insolvent Highway Trust Fund without any reforms to prevent future bailouts, it would also reauthorize the expired crony-capitalist feeding trough, the U.S. Export-Import Bank.
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FreedomWorks Responds to Comments by Boehner's Chief of Staff to Liberal Republican Group
Speaking to the liberal Republican Main Street Partnership last week, Speaker John Boehner's chief of staff, Mike Sommers, named the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank as one of the main priorities for the House of Representatives in October. Sommers also praised the liberal GOP group, while making a subtle dig at principled conservatives who believe Republicans should govern by the limited government values on which they campaign.
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FreedomWorks Scores Against Signers of Ex-Im Petition on Scorecard
Last Friday, 218 Members of the House (including 42 Republicans) made a sudden and uncommon move called a discharge petition to bring a re-authorization of the U.S. Export-Import Bank out of committee without a vote. Although GOP leadership in the Senate have indicated that they are unlikely to pass this specific bill, the tactic demonstrated that the House has the strength to revive the expired corporate welfare bank if the Senate were to reauthorize it in a separate bill.