Posted on 05/06/2014 6:01:57 PM PDT by lowbridge
Republican leaders are trying quietly to reauthorize a corporate welfare agency this week, using a few opaque words slipped into a bill providing foreign aid to Africa.
The Overseas Private Investment Corp. is a federal agency thatsubsidizes U.S. companies investing in foreign countries -- such as Ritz-Carlton building a hotel in Turkey. OPIC provides a taxpayer backstop for the banks and the developers in case anything goes wrong.
OPIC's charter expires Sept. 30 -- the end of the current fiscal year. A standalone bill to reauthorize OPIC would face a tough fight, given the strong Tea Party, anti-corporate-welfare strain in the House.
Instead, House Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce -- a former opponent of OPIC -- teamed up with Democrats to stick reauthorization into the “Electrify Africa Act of 2014.”
The Electrify Africa bill has broad bipartisan support. Even if it grates on some Republicans’ libertarian beliefs, there was no real opposition.
So it was slated for the House floor’s “suspension calendar” Wednesday. The suspension calendar is a tool for expediting bills, skipping some of the committee process for measures with two-thirds support in the full House. Electrify Africa, with more than 110 co-sponsors, was sure to get two-thirds of the House.
Reauthorizing OPIC without debate is a more contentious issue. So it was convenient that a few inscrutable lines in a 22-page, non-controversial bill would do the deed.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
Two Party System, again!
NO! NO! NO! NO! No to crony “capitalism”. It will serve them right when Dems use this against them in campaigns. Welfare for the rich and corporations.
“What part of the USA is BROKE don’t these GOP and Dems get?”
“No, No, No’ is the word, and we can’t continue to borrow to prop up this bunch of bloodsucking pariah’s programs.... hotels,solar panel companies, or foreign donations.
Good Grief!
IT IS TIME FOR A BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT!
One Central Oligarchy Party with two wings.
This wing pushes spending as much as the other wing.
"I didn't leave the Central Oligarchy Party. It left me."
Ronaldus Magnimus, 2014
"Hey, Democrats, help us sneak this wasteful spending in, and we'll help you sneak your wasteful spending in."
If this was a trick, and some obscure phrase in those 'few inscrutable lines' repealed Public Law 111–148 (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - ObamaCare) in its entirety along with extending the OPIC nonsense, I'd consider that an acceptable cost. Unfortunately, the GOP-e doesn't pull dirty tricks on the Democrats, just on conservatives.
It is really a corrupt government financing agency, since without this, they couldn’t build the hotel because the banks wouldn’t give the money.
It is also the best way to give bribes overseas.
Sorry, a BBA only gives them carde blanche to jack up tax rates “But, the budget is XYZ, so we HAVE to raise tax rates to ‘balance’”
I’ll settle for a A1S8 Fedzilla. The rest would settle out in time.
Another example of why congress and the senate continually have an approval rating below child molesters, used car salesmen and mass spammers.
The major difference between democrats and republicans is who they want to give our tax money to.
Democrats want to give it to themselves, their relatives and their pals.
Republicans want to give it to themselves, their relatives and their pals.
See the difference?
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