Political Quotes

“I wish to clarify a few things. The Parliamentarian referred the bill to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It was reported favorably by that committee. It was referred to the Senate Banking Committee, but I made a point with Senator Boozman, our colleague on the Republican side, of taking this bill to the Banking Committee, which clearly shows this is not an attempt to go around this committee. I have the greatest respect for the Members of the Banking Committee on both sides and we have done our best to work with them. Secondly, this argument that we have to get out of the business of having government support for business activity is a naive argument. Let me give just a couple numbers to reflect on, when it comes to the future of our chances of American businesses working successfully to export to Africa. Right now, the Export-Import Bank of the United States has supplied the support of about $1 trillion in 2011 for all exports to Africa. Some of these are guarantees on loans. Some of them allow for lower interest rates because the guarantees do exist. But let me tell my colleagues what is happening with the Chinese at the same time. While we are putting in $1 trillion in Africa, the Chinese are putting in $12 trillion. Who is going to win that competition? When it is all over, who will win that competition? By a margin of 12 to 1 the Chinese will win it.…”