New CEI Report Gives 10 Reasons to Abolish the Corrupt Export-Import Bank

New CEI Report Gives 10 Reasons to Abolish the Corrupt Export-Import Bank

Time to End One of Government’s Largest Corporate Welfare Programs

WASHINGTON, July 15 – Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) released a new report citing 10 reasons to abolish the Export-Import Bank. With elections quickly approaching, the Export-Import Bank has become a flashpoint issue dividing the rank-and-file in both parties. The bank, which is actually a government agency, currently oversees nearly $140 billion worth of loans, loan guarantees, and other financial products. Ex-Im will cease to exist unless Congress votes to reauthorize it by September 30, 2014. The Senate is expected to hold a vote this month.

“The Export-Import Bank is one of the federal government’s largest corporate welfare programs,” said Ryan Young, CEI Fellow and author of the report. “The bank claims to make an annual profit of around $1 billion, but a recent Congressional Budget Office report found it is really running at a loss. It is well past time to shut it down.”

The Export-Import Bank was established in 1934 as part of the New Deal, to increase U.S. trade by supporting the financing of U.S. exported goods and services.

“Ex-Im is pro-business, but not pro-market. Its special favors for some companies unfairly distort the competitive process. Over the last 80 years, the bank has put billions of taxpayer dollars at risk to benefit a handful of large, politically connected firms,” said Young. “The upcoming reauthorization votes will let Americans know whether their representatives are on the taxpayer’s side or that of classic Washington special interests.”

Highlights from 10 reasons to abolish the Export-Import Bank: 

  • Ex-Im favors some businesses and hurts others, often foreign firms rather than domestic ones. It has favored foreign airlines, such as Air India, Korean Air, and Ryannair, over domestic airlines, such as Delta Air Lines.
  • As many as 74 instances of fraud and bribery allegations involving Ex-Im employees have been made public over the last five years. For an agency with only 400 employees, this is a serious problem.
  • Ex-Im  also favors big businesses over small businesses. Ex-Im touts that the vast majority of its lending activities go to smaller businesses. But more than 80 percent of the bank’s financing, measured in dollars, goes to big firms.

> Read the report, Ten Reasons to Abolish the Export-Import Bank