Ernst a dependably “establishment” Senator
Bank issue would make third split with Grassley on high-profile matters
Senator Joni Ernst voted opposite fellow Iowan and senior Senator Chuck Grassley on whether Iran negotiations would be considered a treaty.
They also split on whether to reauthorize the government to grab all manner of meta data (phone numbers and timelines) from cell communications by Americans. Ernst wanted to reauthorize NSA activities under the Patriot Act and Grassley supported the substitute USA Freedom Act intended to better accommodate 4th Amendment guarantees.
Now with the decision whether to extend funding for the U.S. Export-Import Bank pending at the end of the month it appears they will split again.
On all three matters Chuck Grassley has taken the smaller government approach and Senator Ernst has sided with establishment Republicans and the usual suspects associated with them. They both backed giving Obama “Fast Track” trade authority to negotiate international trade deals as regards the secretive Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement.
We have previously posted articles dealing with those subjects. Here is a post regarding the Export-Import Bank from The National Center for Policy Analysis, set forth here with permission:
Reasons Not to Reauthorize the Export-Import Bank
Congress should not reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank because the federal government should not direct limited public resources to subsidies that benefit successful politically connected corporations at the expense of thousands of companies and millions of American workers who compete in the global marketplace without government favors. Failure to reauthorize will prevent the Ex-Im Bank from extending new loans, which would be a win for taxpayers who are ultimately on the hook for a total of $140 billion if bank reserves fail to cover defaults.
The Ex-Im Bank is one of the most destructive government-granted privileges.
At a 40 percent share of total Ex-Im Bank loan authorizations in 2014, Boeing dwarfs the 25 percent combined share of all small businesses. On the foreign side, the subsidized financing largely benefits very large companies that either collect massive subsidies as state-controlled entities or could easily access private financing.
The Ex-Im Bank also gives lenders an incentive to shift resources away from unsubsidized projects and towards subsidized ones.
The Ex-Im Bank cannot affect the trade balance overall. Data shows the Ex-Im Bank backs less than 2 percent of U.S. exports each year.
The Gross Domestic Product of the country issuing the subsidies is very likely to be negatively affected.
Jobs will not vanish if the Ex-Im Bank charter expires. Economists have shown that in most cases schemes like the Ex-Im Bank redistribute jobs from nonsubsidized industries to subsidized ones.
The Ex-Im Bank is not really leveling the playing field for U.S. exporters or filling a financing gap. Data shows that less than one-third of the estimated export value of the Ex-Im Bank’s portfolio is intended to counteract competitive disadvantages created by foreign governments’ own export subsidies.
Source: Veronique de Rugy, “The Export-Import Bank: Winners and Losers of Government-Granted Privilege,” Mercatus Center, June 2, 2015.
Articles from other tax-payer friendly conservative organizations that oppose the Export-Import Bank:
Americans for Limited Government
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R Mall
It’s inexplicable how both of these GOP senators could vote for a trade bill, all contents of which are not known to the American public and likely not known to many of the senators who voted for it. If only some of Senator Jeff Sessions’ warnings about the provisions of this bill are true, any Republican voting for it hardly deserves the support of any conservative who helped put them in office. This seems especially true for Ms. Ernst…who is quickly becoming a huge disappointment for many voters who believed they were sending her to Washington to help stop Obama’s assault on America and the Constitution, not join in the GOP establishment’s capitulation!