Ed Royce: “we are talking today about the Exports, Job and Growth Act of 1996. Whenever supporters give a bill a motherhood and…”

“we are talking today about the Exports, Job and Growth Act of 1996. Whenever supporters give a bill a motherhood and apple pie title like that, and who is not against exports, who is not for growth and jobs? But it is time to take a hard look when people give a title to a bill like that. It should be called the doubling OPIC Act. That is what we are doing today. We are expanding and doubling a Government agency, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, at a time when many on this floor have committed themselves to balancing the budget and encouraging the private sector by asking, Is this an appropriate role for government? We have heard how OPIC does not give subsidies. We have heard that charge. But can anyone tell us how this is true? The fact is that not only does OPIC receive operating expenses from the U.S. Government, but most importantly what it does is it sells the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government. That is what it does. Does that sound familiar? That is what the savings and loan industry did. It sold the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government.”