Political Quotes

“let me just make one thing very clear about OPIC making money. OPIC holds government bonds. The Department of the Treasury of the United States then pays interest on the government bonds. So when we talk OPIC making profit, the profit is being paid for by taxpayers to an organization that holds government bonds. It has nothing to do with making money or having a profit. So let us just be clear about the fact that we use this terminology carefully. We know this is a very tough fight here because it is right at the heart of subsidies to the most powerful, and we understand that it is hard to win that. But I think it is very important that when we have this debate that we be clear about it. I am not suggesting for a second that anybody is trying to distort the truth. We have just got to get the facts about what profits are all about. It is not about any government operation making money in the marketplace. It has to do with taxpayers giving them money that then gets scored as extra money, which some call profits. That is in error. So we ought to be clear about what this organization actually does.”