Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank her for her tremendous leadership on this issue. I join her; Mr. Heck of Washington; our whip, Mr. Hoyer; Congresswoman Moore of Wisconsin; and so many others on the Republican side of the aisle who have been such strong leaders on reauthorization of the Ex-Im Bank. Mr. Chair, some concerns have been raised here that I think are in need of response. In terms of this amendment, I rise in opposition to it and state that the Bank's portfolio is well-collateralized, especially in the largest product sector, and it maintains a loss rate of less than one-quarter of 1 percent. The Bank is also self-funded, largely through user fees collected from foreign customers, and has generated a surplus of close to $7 billion, money that has been sent to the U.S. Treasury to help reduce the deficit. The previous speaker, Mr. Mulvaney, talked about some incidences of fraud that he said were associated with the Bank. I think it is important for our colleagues and those who are listening to this debate to know that those incidences of fraud were fraud exacted upon the Bank, not by the Bank; and so the charge that this fraud was within the Bank is just simply not true. These were people who tried to defraud the Bank. Now, there was one incidence of fraud that the members of the staff of the Bank referred to or called out--one incident. So I just don't want anyone to be misled into thinking that, however it was characterized, it is a fact.…”