On Thursday, Fred Hochberg, chairman and president of the Export-Import Bank, will be grilled by members of the House Financial Services Committee over charges of corruption
and mismanagement at the 80-year old agency. His task to defend the
agency appears formidable, especially with its charter coming up for
renewal at the end of September.
On Tuesday the Wall Street Journal reported that four Ex-Im
employees have either been suspended or fired over the last few months
as a result of “investigations into allegations of gifts and kickbacks.”
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The Heritage Foundation
reported on the same day that there have been at least 74 cases of
“integrity” investigations by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) at
the agency, plus dozens of other cases of outright fraud that have been
referred to the Justice Department for prosecution. Not bad for an
agency that employs just 402 people.
Hochberg’s problems are compounded by the committee’s chair, Rep. Jeb
Hensarling (R-Texas), who says that the agency deserves to have its
charter withdrawn because of its reputation as a funnel for taxpayer
dollars to large companies as a form of corporate welfare. In addition,
the newly-minted Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, who replaced Eric Cantor
in a surprise upset last week, has also weighed in against the agency,
saying that the bank ought to be shut down its operations are “something
that the private sector [is] able to do.”
Created by an executive order issued by then-President Franklin
Roosevelt in 1945, the Ex-Im Bank was established as an agency of the
executive branch. Its task, allegedly, was to offer financing to assist
in the export of American products and services where private financing
wasn’t available due to excessive credit risk. The agency’s stated goal
at inception was “to aid in financing and to facilitate exports and
imports and the exchange of commodities between the United States and
other Nations or the agencies or nationals thereof.”
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