Mr. ANDREWS. Mr. Chairman, I
yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. PAUL).
(Mr. PAUL asked and was given permission
to revise and extend his remarks.)
1999 Ron Paul 83:1 Mr. PAUL.
Mr. Chairman, I thank
the gentleman for yielding me the
time. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support
for this amendment. If it were
true that this agency is profitable, we
would not be here. They would be making
profit, and OPIC would not need to
come here every year.
1999 Ron Paul 83:2 They are asking for $55 million.
Where does the profit come from? It
was stated earlier very clearly; from
the interest they earn. They have a
portfolio of $3 billion of U.S. securities.
1999 Ron Paul 83:3 But these did not reduce the national
debt. That is part of the national debt.
We pay interest on that $3 billion. And
this agency gets $194 million from it,
four times the amount of the requested
appropriation.
1999 Ron Paul 83:4 No wonder on paper it looks profitable.
And they say, well, the private
companies will not insure some of
these projects. That means it is probably
risky. Why should the taxpayer
assume the risk? Why should these corporations
be protected with this corporate
welfare?
1999 Ron Paul 83:5 This is the reason why jobs are exported
at a cost to the American taxpayer.
It is bad economics. And it is a
lot of twisting of the facts if we call
this agency profitable at the same time
they are getting $194 million that we
barely talk about.
1999 Ron Paul 83:6 How many other agencies of government
get interest like this? This is almost
a government unto itself, the fact
that it has that much financing without
even a direct appropriation because
it is paid out of the interest budget.
1999 Ron Paul 83:7 This is indeed a very important
amendment. I believe that we should
definitely vote for this. If we care at all
about the taxpayer of this country, we
should expose what is happening with
corporate welfare.
1999 Ron Paul 83:8 The little people are not coming to
us today begging us to vote against
this amendment. It is the corporations,
the giant corporations, not our small
mom-and-pop businesses. They are not
coming and saying, please, please protect
OPIC. No, it is the giant corporations
that have been able to manipulate
and get benefits from programs
like this.
Note:
1999 Ron Paul 83:1
Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the time.
Here, Ron Paul thanks The Honorable Robert E. Andrews of New Jersey.
