RARE SENSE :

Corporate Welfare at its Worst (Rep. Bernie Sanders, 5/21/02, The Nation)

One of the most egregious forms of corporate welfare can be found at a little-known federal agency called the Export-Import Bank, an institution that has a budget of about $1 billion a year and the capability of putting at risk some $15.5 billion in loan guarantees annually. At a time when the government is underfunding veterans' needs, education, healthcare, housing and many other vital services, more than 80 percent of the subsidies distributed by the Export-Import Bank goes to Fortune 500 corporations. Among the companies that receive taxpayer support from the Ex-Im are Enron, Boeing, Halliburton, Mobil, IBM, General Electric, AT&T, Motorola, Lucent Technologies, FedEx, General Motors, Raytheon and United Technologies. [...]

The bottom line is that if the Export-Import Bank cannot be reformed so as to become a vehicle for real job creation in the United States, it should be eliminated. American citizens have better things to do with their money than support an agency that provides welfare for corporations that could care less about American workers.

Agreed. How about letting the Democrats pick the 100 programs and tax breaks that they find most appalling and Republicans pick their own 100. Put them all in one bill that kills them and let Congress vote up or down. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 27, 2002 11:00 PM