Andrea Joy Campbell: “Equity in our approach to welfare, safety for the American taxpayer, and sending the right signal to those countries…”

“Equity in our approach to welfare, safety for the American taxpayer, and sending the right signal to those countries that have not yet provided a reliable place for investment in the world, these are the three arguments that compel support for this amendment. Equity. We have with difficulty struck down welfare program after welfare program or restricted it. We must be prepared to do the same when it comes to an aspect of corporate welfare, an aspect of favoritism for those companies who cannot stand on their own. A question of risk. The chart that I have to my left is prepared by the Congressional Budget Office. That does a risk rating of the loans which are being insured by OPIC. It should not surprise us when we look at it to see such a concentration of these loans at the risky end of the spectrum, D, D minus, E, F, F minus. Why should it not surprise us? Because by definition OPIC is offering insurance for loans that were not otherwise able to be insured in the market. Finally, sending the correct signal. There is something important that the market tells us when the market says it will not insure an investment in a country. It tells us that that country has not yet established its economic or governmental structure in such a way as to attract investment. And by affording insurance anyway, which the United States does through OPIC, we are sending a message and actually deterring, retarding the progress that that country might otherwise make.”