However you feel about the U. S. Export-Import Bank’s mission to
support American companies engaged in foreign trade, here’s one thing you must
admit:
It’s not a drain on taxpayer’s money.
You can call Ex-Im a stinging example of “crony capitalism” if you want
to, but one thing you can’t say is that it uses money from the “cashier at the
corner grocery store, the cop on the beat, your children’s teachers,” as U.S.
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) has claimed.
Ex-Im provides loans to foreign buyers of U.S. products, guarantees loans
to banks that lend to foreign buyers, provides insurance against trade losses by
U.S. exporters and banks, and guarantees “working capital” loans to U. S.
exporters.
Robert Samuelson at WashingtonPost.com explains:
“The central fact about the Ex-Im Bank is that, in the $3.5 trillion federal budget,
it is a pygmy. It has about 400
employees. In 2013, its operating budget — its overhead — totaled $90
million, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
But these expenses were fully paid by fees and interest from Ex-Im’s private
customers. There was no direct drain on taxpayers. Indeed, the bank turned a
profit in 2013 and paid $1.1 billion to the Treasury.”
Congressional Republicans and Tea Party foes of the Ex-Im Bank are
blowing smoke when they fight against funding it and claim they’re fighting
government waste and freebies to business.
The Ex-Im bank supports more than 200,000 American jobs, and every
other major country provides export credit subsidies.
I’m not a fan of Ex-Im, but everybody else is doing it. It’s not a
great reason to fund the bank, but it’s a reason.
In any event, the Export-Import Bank isn’t costing taxpayers a dime—in fact it sends money to America’s bottom line.
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