Tammy Duckworth on Free Trade

Yes to Ex-im bank; Yes to fast-track

Ballotpedia.org analysis of Congressional voting record on trade issues:
• Voted NAY on Trade adjustment assistance (TAA): On 6/12/15, the House rejected the TAA measure in HR 1314 by a vote of 126 to 302. TAA is a federal program providing American workers displaced by foreign trade agreements with job training and services.
• Voted NAY on Trade promotion authority (TPA): On 6/12/15, the House narrowly passed the TPA measure in HR 1314 by a vote of 219 to 211. TPA would give the president fast-track authority to negotiate trade agreements sent to Congress without the opportunity for amendment or filibuster.
• Voted YEA on Export-Import Bank: On 10/27/15, the House passed HR 597, the Export-Import Bank Reform and Reauthorization Act, by a vote of 313-118. The bill allows the Export-Import Bank to resume offering assistance in the form of loans and insurance to foreign companies that want to buy U.S. goods.

$25B more loans from Export-Import Bank.

This bill raises the cap on outstanding loans, guarantees, and insurance of the Export-Import Bank of the United States for FY2015-FY2022 and afterwards. The Bank shall:

• Provide technical assistance to small businesses on how to apply for financial assistance from the Bank;
• Establish programs under which private financial institutions may share risk in the loans, guarantees, and other Bank products in exchange for receiving fees received from program participants.
• The Bank may enter into up to $25 billion worth of contracts of reinsurance, co-finance, or other risk-sharing arrangements on its portfolio or individual transactions with insurance companies, financial institutions, or export credit agencies.

Opponents reasons for voting NAY: (Washington Examiner, 12/2/12): The Export-Import Bank is a taxpayer-backed agency that finances U.S. exports, primarily though loan guarantees. You'd think the bank would spread the money around to nurture up-and-coming businesses. You'd be wrong, very wrong. In fact, 83% of its taxpayer-backed loan guarantees in 2012 went to just one exporter: Boeing. Welcome to the "New Economic Patriotism," where the big get bigger and taxpayers bear the risk. Ex-Im is at the heart of Obama's National Export Initiative and is a pillar of the economic patriotism that Obama pledged in a second term. When government hands out more money, the guys with the best lobbyists and the closest ties to power will disproportionately get their hands on that money. Obama has spent four years pushing more subsidies, more bailouts and more regulations. "New Economic Patriotism" basically amounts to a national industrial policy -- Washington championing certain major domestic companies and industries, as if the global economy were an Olympic competition.