Rand Paul: “H.R. 1370, reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank, should be rejected for several reasons. The claim to constitutionality…”

“H.R. 1370, reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank, should be rejected for several reasons. The claim to constitutionality is dubious. The Bank rewards special interest groups with political favors. Reallocating money from the job-producing, productive sectors of the economy to the less efficient sectors distorts credit allocation. Reauthorization of the Bank is both bad economics and bad politics. Article I section 8 of the U.S. Constitution enumerates areas over which Congress has authority. The ninth and tenth amendments further reinforce that powers not vested in the U.S. Congress are reserved to the States or to the people. The fifth amendment of the Constitution forbids the taking from the people in order to subsidize the business of the politically well-connected. It is not through free trade that the Government subsidizes the politically well-connected. Rather, it is through such organizations as the Eximbank. The justification of H.R. 1370 under the general welfare clause of the Constitution stretches the imagination of the intent of the Founding Fathers. Nowhere in the authors' dreams could the general welfare clause be used to tax all American individuals in order to give corporate welfare to a few, specific, large political donors. The supporters of the bill have not satisfactorily explained how the authorization of the Eximbank could be justified as regulating commerce.”