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Congress Should Reject Backdoor Corporate Handouts

Congress Should Reject Backdoor Corporate Handouts
Don’t Change the Rules on Export-Import Loans

(Washington, D.C.) – Under pressure from companies that benefit from taxpayer-funded subsidies, Congress recently reauthorized the Export-Import bank, after having allowed that authorization to expire. Without a quorum on the board of the bank however, federal law limits the size of loans that the bank may make to no more than $10 million. Special interests are pushing for Congress to change that rule through a last-minute addition to an unrelated piece of “must-pass” appropriations legislation, and without a full and open debate in Congress and before the American people. 

Carli Dimino, Policy Director for The LIBRE Initiative, released the following statement:

“Congress made a mistake when it went back on the decision to allow the Export-Import Bank charter to expire. Yet even among those who supported its reauthorization, many have admitted reform was needed. Instead, some now are trying to change the rules to make it easier to work the system – that is hardly meaningful reform.

Quite simply, it’s a mistake to use taxpayer dollars to benefit one American company over another. Winners and losers should be determined by consumers in the free market – not by access to powerful policymakers in Washington, D.C. But now that the Bank has been reauthorized, Congress should reject appeals from special interests to change the rules and let loose billions more taxpayer dollars without an honest and open debate. Let the defenders of these subsidies defend them in the open, if they can.”

For Interviews with a representative from The LIBRE Initiative, please contact Brian Faughnan, 703-678-4581

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