Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, Congress should reject H.R. 2072, the Securing American Jobs Through Exports Act of 2011, for economic, moral, and constitutional reasons. The Export-Import Bank is a prime example of corporate welfare, taking money from American taxpayers to prop up the export businesses of large corporations. Companies such as Boeing should be able to make sales based solely on the quality of their products and the willingness of the market to purchase those products. Instead, these companies rely on their political connections to subsidize their businesses. Ex-Im even provided Enron with hundreds of millions of dollars of assistance before that company's ignominious collapse. Do we really want to continue funding the Enrons of the world? Not only is it bad economics to force working Americans, small businesses, and entrepreneurs to subsidize the exports of large corporations, it is also immoral. Redistribution from the poor and middle class to the wealthy is the most indefensible aspect of the welfare state, yet it is the most accepted form of welfare. At a time when the Federal government is running unprecedentedly large budget deficits why are we reauthorizing subsidies for large corporations? I hope that my colleagues who criticize welfare for the poor on moral and constitutional grounds will vote against this program that provides welfare for the rich. Proponents of continued American support for Ex-Im claim that the bank ``creates jobs'' and promotes economic growth.…”