On the recordNovember 4, 2015
This Bank is important. That is why Ronald Reagan said on January 30, 1984, that the Export-Import Bank contributes in a significant way to our Nation's export sales. We should not adopt an unnecessary amendment, the effect of which would be to kill the Bank. Now, this amendment deals with accounting. As co-chair of the CPA Caucus, I understand the importance of solid accounting rules. As a CPA, we are the referees that make sure that accounting rules are followed. The amendment talks about fair value accounting, more properly described as fantasy value accounting. Don't confuse fair value accounting with anything that is used in private enterprise or anywhere else. It is not the same as generally accepted accounting principles. Stick with generally accepted accounting principles. Stick with the principles consistent with the CBO, and those principles show you that the Bank makes money for the Treasury, which is why it transfers half a billion to a billion dollars a year. Under fantasy value accounting, we don't look at whether the Bank is making money. We look at whether they would be making money if we lived in a fair world. So you would say, for example, in looking at the cost of funds and what it takes to borrow money, you could look at the accounting statements of Pizza Hut and say: Don't look at what they actually paid as interest costs, but what they would have paid in a fair world where they had the same interest rate as Jack's Pizzeria.…
