Dana Rohrabacher: “I rise in support of S. 1824, a bill to reauthorize funding for the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. I never…”

“I rise in support of S. 1824, a bill to reauthorize funding for the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. I never supported OPIC in the past because, until recently, what OPIC basically did was provide insurance for Fortune 500 corporations to invest overseas, and when those investments went belly up, the American taxpayer picked up the bill. OPIC was basically an ATM machine for the Fortune 500. Well, things are different now. Things are changing at OPIC for the better. A new president, Dr. Peter Watson, is in charge of OPIC, and OPIC funds are now being channeled to business initiatives that promote democracy and justice and are in the interests of the American people. One case of particular interest is that of Ethiopia. Ethiopia is run today by leaders who are inclined towards war and who frequently violate the rights of honest people whose property has been confiscated by their government. Some of these victims are U.S. citizens. One of the victims is Mr. Berhane, my constituent, and now a U.S. citizen. The Berhane family is a very well-respected family in Orange County. We all know them and respect them as honest, hard-working people. Mr. Berhane owned a successful enterprise in Ethiopia that was stolen, confiscated by Ethiopia's former Marxist dictatorship.”