Rob Andrews: “Mr. Chairman, in 1996, this House voted to end welfare as we know it for single moms and for people struggling to raise…”

“Mr. Chairman, in 1996, this House voted to end welfare as we know it for single moms and for people struggling to raise families across America. This amendment says that it is time for us to end corporate welfare as we know it. The amendment says that the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, OPIC, will be precluded from initiating new deals, new transactions, with the money that is in this underlying bill. It says that DuPont and General Electric, and McDonald's, and some of the largest corporations in the world, ought to risk their capital in risky international investments, not the capital of the American taxpayers. Now, I have had the opportunity to outline my views previously on Thursday night, but I want to quickly summarize them before yielding to supporters of my amendment. We will no doubt hear that this will cause chaos at OPIC. It will not. This amendment does not interfere with the ongoing operation and the wind-down of the entity. It simply says that funds should be used to effectuate that wind-down rather than to initiate new deals. We will hear that this will have a devastating effect on U.S. investment overseas. Frankly, the huge majority, the immense majority of private investments by U.S. corporations overseas have nothing to do with OPIC.”