The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate
the amendment.
The text of the amendment is as follows:
Amendment offered by Mr. PAUL:
Page 116, after line 5, insert the following:
LIMITATION ON FUNDS FOR EXPORT-IMPORT
BANK OF THE UNITED STATES, OVERSEAS PRIVATE
INVESTMENT CORPORATION, AND THE
TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
SEC. . None of the funds made available
pursuant to this Act for the Export-Import
Bank of the United States, the Overseas Private
Investment Corporation, or the Trade
and Development Agency, may be used to
enter into any new obligation, guarantee, or
agreement on or after the date of the enactment
of this Act.
The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to the
order of the House of Thursday, July
29, 1999, the gentleman from Texas (Mr.
PAUL) and the gentleman from Alabama
(Mr. CALLAHAN) each will control
5 minutes.
The gentleman from Texas (Mr.
PAUL) is recognized for 5 minutes.
(Mr. PAUL asked and was given permission
to revise and extend his remarks.)
1999 Ron Paul 86:2 Mr. PAUL.
Mr. Chairman, I yield myself
such time as I may consume.
1999 Ron Paul 86:3 Mr. Chairman, this amendment provides
that no funds for new obligations,
guarantees, or agreements can be
issued under the Export-Import Bank
under OPIC or under the Trade Development
Agency. This again is an attempt
to try to slow up the amount of
dollars that flow into corporations and
for their benefit specifically as well as
our foreign competitors.
1999 Ron Paul 86:4 China, for instance, receives the largest
amount of money from the Export-Import Bank. Outstanding liabilities
for the Export-Import Bank is now $55
billion. There is $5.9 billion that have
been granted to the Chinese.
1999 Ron Paul 86:5 Last week we had a very important
vote on trade. It was hotly debated
over human rights issues. I voted to
trade with China because I believe it is
proper to trade with people. We are less
likely to fight with them. And in this
institution, too often we use our terms
carelessly and we talk about free trade
as being something which is managed
trade. Free trade here generally means
that we will have the NAFTA people
managing trade, the World Trade Organization
managing trade, and we will
subsidize our businesses.
1999 Ron Paul 86:6 Just this past week we had the World
Trade Organization rule against us saying
that we grant $2 billion worth of
tax benefits to our own corporations
and they ruled that that was illegal.
This is all done in the name of free
trade.
1999 Ron Paul 86:7 I say that we should have free trade.
We should trade with our friends and
with anybody who would trade that we
are not at war with. We should really,
really be careful about issuing sanctions.
But here we are, last week we
had the great debate and a lot of people
could not stand the idea of trading
with Red China because of their human
rights record and I understand that, although
I did not accept that position.
But this is the time to do something
about it.
1999 Ron Paul 86:8 Trading with Red China under true
free trade is a benefit to both of us. It
is a benefit to our consumers and it
benefits both countries because we are
talking with people and we are not
fighting with them. But it gets to be a
serious problem when we tax our people
in order to benefit those who are receiving
the goods overseas.
1999 Ron Paul 86:9 Now, if there is a worldwide downturn,
this $55 billion of liabilities out
there could be very significant in how
it is going to be paid back. The Chinese
right now, their economy is not all
that healthy. They are talking about a
devaluation.
1999 Ron Paul 86:10 So this is a liability that the American
taxpayers are exposed to. If we do
have a concern about Red China and
the Chinese, yes, let us work with
them, let us trade with them, but let us
not subsidize them.
1999 Ron Paul 86:11 This is what I am trying to do. I am
trying to stop this type of subsidies. So
my bill, my amendment would stop any
new obligation. It does not close down
Export-Import Bank. It allows all the
old loans to operate and function, but
no new obligations can be made, no
new guaranties, and no agreement,
with the idea that someday we may
truly move to free trade, that we do
not recognize free trade as being subsidized
trade as well as internationally
managed trade with organizations such
as NAFTA and World Trade Organization.
1999 Ron Paul 86:12 Those institutions are not free trade
institutions. They are managed trade
institutions for the benefit of special
interests. That is what this type of
funding is for is for the benefit of special
interests, whether it is our domestic
corporation, which, indeed, I would
recognize does receive some benefit.
1999 Ron Paul 86:13 Sixty-seven percent of all the funding
of the Export-Import Bank goes to, not
a large number of companies, to five
companies. I will bet my colleagues, if
they look at those five companies in
this country that gets 67 percent of the
benefit and look at their political action
records, my colleagues might be
enlightened. I mean, I bet my colleagues
we would learn something
about where that money goes, because
they are big corporations and they benefit,
and they will have their defenders
here.
