Maxine Waters

Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California

Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment offered by the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Schweikert), which would do little to strengthen or improve the Export- Import Bank. Rather, the amendment is a cynical attempt to inaccurately and artificially inflate the cost of the programs offered by the Bank. All this would achieve is confusion regarding the real-world state of the Bank's fiscal health. The fact of the matter is the Export-Import Bank has been extraordinarily careful in its risk management, which has resulted in a dividend to taxpayers of close to $7 billion. This is real money, and to pretend it isn't real for accounting purposes just isn't credible. Overwhelmingly, majorities in the House and Senate have passed identical reauthorization measures that deliberately excluded this provision, and adding it back now would only serve to undermine the Bank's reauthorization. Mr. Chairman, I urge Members to oppose this amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman), who serves on the Financial Services Committee.

Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Heck).

Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman), another member the Financial Services Committee.

Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Lucas), who has had so much courage.

Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 1 minute. Mr. Chairman and Members, this amendment, more than any other, is the one most clearly aimed at fracturing the majority coalition that has overwhelmingly backed the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank. For Members who might feel pressure to vote for this amendment, I urge you to keep in mind that you would also be voting to send the Ex- Im provision in this bill to conference and directly into the hands of Chairman Hensarling and Chairman Shelby, which will prove fatal to the Export-Import Bank. Moreover, the Foreign Assistance Act as well as the omnibus spending bill the House adopted last December both prohibit Ex-Im support to state sponsors of terrorism, and there is no reason to believe that will change. Mr. Chairman, I strongly urge Members to appreciate the extraordinary efforts it has taken Members on both sides of the aisle to get us to this point, and I call on my colleagues to reject this poison pill amendment that is designed to upend the reauthorization of the Bank. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Chairman, this amendment has been offered in an attempt to delay and derail the Bank's reauthorization. Despite the implication made by the gentleman's amendment that Ex-Im is undertaking and mismanaging excessive risk, it is important to be clear on the fact that the Bank has a portfolio that is well diversified regionally and by sector, spread across over 170 countries and dozens of industries. The Bank's portfolio is also well collateralized, especially in its larger product sector, and it maintains the loss rate of less than one- quarter of 1 percent. Moreover, Ex-Im Bank's strong portfolio has withstood the test of numerous market disruptions in the past. Finally, the Bank is also self-funded largely through user fees collected from foreign customers and has generated a surplus of close to $7 billion, money that has been sent to the U.S. Treasury to help lower our deficit. So I urge all Members to reject this amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Lucas).

Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Fincher).

Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Heck).

Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the Democratic leader.

Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment.

Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Heck).

Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Lucas).

Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Dent).

Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Wisconsin (Ms. Moore).

Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. I yield myself 1 minute. Yet again the gentleman from South Carolina is offering an amendment designed to kill the Ex-Im Bank and compromise its reauthorization in the highway bill conference. By imposing arbitrary caps on the Bank's ability to meet the needs of American exporters, regardless of the sector they represent, the amendment would starve certain sectors of the financing they need, resulting in a needless loss of U.S. jobs. I am concerned the amendment would also create incentives for businesses to be the first in line to get the limited amount of financing that is available for that particular sector or industry and would also undermine its mandates to serve sub-Saharan Africa, small businesses, and renewable energy exports. Given the Bank's extremely low default rate, it is hard to envision how this amendment would help the Bank better manage its portfolio. I urge Members to reject this poison pill amendment so that we can reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank without delay. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Chairman, I claim time in opposition to the amendment.

Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time. I have listened carefully to the arguments that are being made on the opposite side of the aisle, and I listened carefully to Mr. Duffy. Evidently, he does not know or does not understand that those big corporations that he talked about are hiring small businesses in his district. He does not understand that these are the suppliers to these big companies. These are the families who are benefiting from the jobs and the contracts that they have been able to get. Evidently, listening to my friends on the opposite side of the aisle, they really don't understand the Ex-Im Bank. They really don't understand its support for our ability to export, thus creating jobs. While on the one hand they talk about how great our country is and how competitive we are, how competitive we need to be, they don't understand that, just as Mr. Fincher said, other countries such as China are just hoping that we cannot reopen this Bank. They are just hoping that we will not support our exporters, because they are going to support their exporters 100 percent. If you care about jobs, if you care about contracts, if you care about small businesses, you would not be opposing this Bank. As a matter of fact, there are those who would say: I am surprised that Maxine Waters is such an advocate for the Ex-Im Bank; we did not expect her to be. But I want you to know, I have worked with the Chamber of Commerce. I have held meetings in my district.

Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Kinzinger).

Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Chairman, may I inquire how much time I have remaining?