TPAPB: TPA Urges a “NO” Vote on the Reauthorization of the Bloated, Bureaucratic, and Ineffective Export-Import Bank

Tomorrow (May 9), the House of Representatives is slated to vote on the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank.  The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) is urging a “NO” vote on the bill.  Congress is looking to reauthorize the bank for three years that expands the bank’s borrowing authority by $40 billion. Billions of dollars per year are wasted in risky loans, atrocious business deals and the mishandling of taxpayer’s money.  In 1934, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt established the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank.  The original purpose of the bank was to protect American companies by providing them loans in hopes of leveling the playing field against state-subsidized foreign competitors. As time passed, it grew, eventually becoming a bloated government agency with no oversight and little semblance to the bank established by Roosevelt and a classic example of corporate welfare. 

 Full TPAPB Below:

 ***Export-Import Bank: Bloated, Bureaucratic, and Ineffective***

The Problem: The Export-Import Bank has become a bloated government agency with no oversight and a classic example of corporate welfare. Congress is looking to reauthorize the bank for three years that expands the bank’s borrowing authority by $40 billion. 

Tax Dollars Wasted: Billions of dollars per year are wasted in risky loans, atrocious business deals and the mishandling of taxpayer’s money.

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Why Taxpayers Should Care:

In 1934, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt established the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank.  The original purpose of the bank was to protect American companies by providing them loans in hopes of leveling the playing field against state-subsidized foreign competitors.

As time passed, it grew, eventually becoming a bloated government agency with no oversight and little semblance to the bank established by Roosevelt and a classic example of corporate welfare.  Now there is a move to re-evaluate the necessity of the Ex-Im Bank.

The bank’s atrocious business deals and risky lending end up costing American jobs and harming taxpayers. Congress needs to act and reform the bank so America’s interests come first.  Simply stated, Ex-Im should be restored to a bank of more modest means that protects American companies, like it did when it was first created by President Roosevelt, not the behemoth that picks winners and losers resulting in American employers being punished.
           
Action Item 

All Members of Congress should vote against a 3 year reauthorization that expands the borrowing authority of the bank by $40 billion.

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Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to educating the public through the research, analysis and dissemination of information on the government’s effects on the economy. Through its network of taxpayers and citizen activists, TPA will hold politicians accountable for the effects of their policies and will offer real solutions to runaway deficits and debt.

Visit www.protectingtaxpayers.org to learn about more examples of egregious government waste.