Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2006
FOREIGN OPERATIONS, EXPORT FINANCING, AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2006 -- (House of Representatives - June 28, 2005)
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Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. KOLBE. I yield to the gentleman from Idaho.
Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the gentleman from Arizona yielding to me for the purposes of a colloquy on an issue of report language that accompanies H.R. 3057, the foreign ops appropriation bill, and for his willingness to work with me through conference on this report language.
Mr. Chairman, report language appears for a reason. It is meant to send a strong message to Federal agencies; in this case, the Export-Import Bank. I am greatly concerned about the message this report language sends. I am worried it has the appearance of trying to encourage the approval of a loan that does not meet the statutory requirements.
Before a loan should be brought before the board for a vote, it must meet the congressionally-mandated test for export additionality, foreign competition, and net benefit to the U.S. economy. If we want to consider changes to the statutory requirements, those changes should be addressed during the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank that is scheduled to occur next year.
I look forward to working with the chairman and the Senate in conference regarding the committee's intent of any report language addressing this issue.
Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I want to say to the gentleman from Idaho (Mr. Simpson) that I sympathize with his statement. He makes his case with passion and knowledge. I want to clarify my intent with respect to the language in the committee report referring to applications from the U.S. Export-Import Bank.
The report language urged the Export-Import Bank to act promptly on requests for assistance. It also asked for the bank to report on the status of pending applications.
The report further noted the committee's request for ``an explanation for any rejection of any requests for assistance, specifically applications affecting the semiconductor industry.'' This sentence could be misconstrued as prejudicing or prejudging possible applications for bank assistance.
Let me be clear. It was not and is not my intention to prejudice or prejudge the outcome of any pending application at the bank. This language is not intended to influence in any way any matter that is pending before the bank or reflect negatively on any decision made by the chairman or any other board member regarding any pending or past matter.
Loans brought before the bank must meet the bank's criteria for export additionality, foreign competition, and net benefit for the American economy. The Export-Import Bank has five full-time board members whose job it is to assess whether applications meet the bank's criteria for export additionality, foreign competition, and net benefit to the U.S. economy.
They are the ones who should make the judgments about which transactions the bank will support and those it would turn down. The committee report language in no way is intended to influence those judgments. I understand the gentleman from Idaho (Mr. Simpson) still has some concerns with the language, and I will be happy to work with the gentleman and the Senate in conference regarding the committee's intent.
Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman.
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