Political Quotes

“We have heard a lot of talk so far today about the Bank, about what the Bank does. We have heard a lot of talk about small business, a lot of talk about the Bank leveling the playing field, a lot of talk about the Bank being that lender of last resort when no one else will step into the breach to help American businesses. Supposedly, that is what this is all about. That is not what this is about. We had a discussion in the committee earlier this year where I actually suggested amendments that would focus the Export-Import Bank on small business, that would allow the Export-Import Bank to expand its use as a lender of last resort, but that would limit the Bank to true uses to level the playing field, when we really were competing with export credit facilities overseas. A representative of the United States Chamber of Commerce sat in our committee and said he would oppose every single one of those amendments. Small business is not what this is about. Leveling the playing field is not what this is about. Being a lender of last resort is not what this is about. This is about doing the bidding of the very, very large corporations that have a very, very large lobbying presence in Washington, D.C. That is what this is about. I am just surprised to see who is for it. We had a chance to actually fix the Bank. No amendments were allowed today.…”