At an energy policy gathering in Washington, DC Tuesday put on by The Hill newspaper and the National Energy Institute Illinois Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger talked about the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank(Ex-Im Bank).  The Ex-Im Bank’s authorization runs out at the end of the month and lawmakers are scrambling to find a way to keep the Bank, which provides loans to US businesses doing transactions overseas, open.

 

During the discussion on the Ex-Im Bank Kinzinger said that he could not understand why conservatives like House Financial Services Chairman congressman Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) 90% of Texas and the Heritage Foundation have been against the continuation of this example of crony capitalism. Energy & Environment News quotes Kinzinger as saying, "I have no idea why the sort-of far right have made this their hill to die on."

 

Hensarling, Heritage and others have been pushing for House and Senate Republicans to kill the Ex-Im Bank due to its cronyism, corporate welfare, and incompatibility with true free market, free enterprise capitalism.  The basic argument against the Bank is that why should American taxpayers bankroll international deals by Boeing and other major corporations and businesses when they have the capital and other resources available to finances these deals without the involvement of American taxpayers and their money.

 

Being a leading Big Government establishment Republican and Boehner yes man, Kinzinger likes the synergy and blurring of private economic activity with the power, control, influence, and corruption that comes with putting the federal government in control of the economy, or riding shotgun.

 

Of the criticism of the Ex-Im Bank as being crony capitalism at its finest Kinzinger said, "This idea of crony capitalism that you hear … you know, it’s fine, let’s make some fixes and do what we need to do, but we cannot unilaterally disarm the world stage."

 

Kinzinger believes that the end of the Ex-Im Bank would be "devastating" to manufacturing in the 16th congressional district of Illinois and elsewhere.  A manufacturer from the area had a pro Ex-Im Bank op-ed run in the Rockford Register Star 2 or 3 weeks ago that said that the Bank is vital to the areas manufacturers and was a necessary tool for small businesses that need the Bank and its loans to do business in other countries.

 

And then Adam Andrzejewski and Open The Books crunched the numbers on the Ex-Im bank and it is horrifying.  American taxpayers have sent more than $7 BILLION to Mexican state owned oil company Pemex. Boeing has gotten one-third of all dollars for exports totaling $60 BILLION. Open The Books even found that the failed green energy boondoggle known as Solyndra got Ex-Im Bank funds.  And then there are the BILLIONS given each year to the nations largest corporations, the untold of billions sent to some of the worst bad actors on the world stage like Russia, and some just down right waste such as giving money to companies that don’t qualify or financing both ends of a transaction that occurred internally within a company.

 

The Ex-Im Bank has got to go, but sadly Kinzinger and the rest of the Big Government loving Republican establishment appear to be ready to work along side Democrats to get reauthorization for the Ex-Im Bank tucked into an upcoming must pass piece of legislation like the Federal Highway Trust Fund funding bill or something else that is in the works.

 

The Hill reports Kinzinger as saying, "You’re going to have a contingent of the folks on the far-right that don’t want it," Kinzinger said at an event hosted by The Hill and sponsored by the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI). "But I think if it comes to a vote on the floor, you’re going to have a majority of Republicans, and I think you’ll have, obviously a majority of Democrats. I think the numbers are there in the House." Kinzinger continued, "We cannot unilaterally disarm on the world stage," he said. "You can’t have your cake and say, ‘ISIS is a problem, China is a problem,’ and then also eat it too and say, ‘oh, crony capitalism, kill Ex-Im bank.’ There are real jobs that rely on it."

 

Just great RINOs like Kinzinger are planning to team up with liberal Democrats to continue a piece of Big Government cronyism and corporate welfare over the well reasoned objections of conservatives and the Tea Party.