Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2005

FOREIGN OPERATIONS, EXPORT FINANCING, AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2005 -- (House of Representatives - July 15, 2004)

The Committee resumed its sitting.

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Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chairman, I am proud to join with this diverse group of Members who may not always agree on many things, but we do agree that taxpayer dollars should never be used to subsidize companies who have incorporated on paper overseas in order to avoid living up to their responsibilities to the United States of America.

Corporate expatriates cost our country $5 billion in lost tax revenue. Any reasonable person might assume that they would not also continue to benefit from government largess. But they are wrong, because these companies continue to receive billions of dollars in government contracts. I am pleased that the House finally passed, as part of the Homeland Security appropriation bill, my amendment to prevent that Department from contracting with corporate expatriates, one small step in an effort that is far from over.

Today's amendment is another important step in that effort. It will prohibit the Export-Import Bank from approving subsidized loans and loan guarantees to corporate expatriates. Unbelievably, five of the largest recipients of Export-Import Bank assistance since 2003 are corporate expatriates. In 2002, Ingersoll-Rand saved up to $60 million in U.S. taxes by reincorporating in Bermuda. Since that time, they have received over $370 million in subsidized loans, loan guarantees, and other financial assistance from the Export-Import Bank.

Ask any American, whether they be a Democrat, a Republican, an Independent or a Libertarian, they will tell you the same thing. This is an outrage. How can we explain this to the American people? How can we explain it to our constituents? Corporate expatriates put good corporate citizens, who stay in America and pay their taxes, at a permanent competitive disadvantage. In the end, that hurts American companies who do pay their taxes and who employ citizens all across this Nation.

We cannot afford to reward companies who shun their responsibilities of American citizenship at the expense of loyal American businesses and contractors. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. Stop government subsidies of corporate expatriates. They have a choice. They can leave this country, and they cannot pay their taxes. We have a choice. We should set the standard, we should set the tone, we should set the obligation that if they are going to do that and not pay taxes in this country, then, in fact, they cannot feed at the public trough and get government contracts.

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Ms. DeLAURO. I thank the gentlewoman from New York for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to engage in a colloquy with the chairman and ranking member. I appreciate their work in crafting this bill. It is a good bill, and I will support it. I understand that the bill is a delicate balance, negotiated down to the last dollar. It is a good example of bipartisanship and what we can accomplish when Members of both parties work together.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to add my voice to those who support increased funding for the Child Survival and Maternal Health programs. Currently, 30,000 children under the age of 5 die every day, more than 10 million per year, from easily preventable or treatable diseases each year. Millions of children die in their first month or even year of life from malnutrition, diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria, and other common childhood diseases. Such high rates of child mortality have a devastating impact on families and communities in countries around the world.

These 10 million deaths are not inevitable. The health conditions that often prove fatal for young children can be treated and prevented with inexpensive interventions that have proven to be effective. Millions of children today are already benefiting from these interventions, many as a result of programs implemented by USAID or the United Nations Children's Fund, using the resources provided by the Child Survival and Maternal Health Fund.

In 2000, the United States joined 188 other member nations of the United Nations pledging to reduce child deaths worldwide by two-thirds and maternal deaths by three-fourths before 2015. An increase in the Child Survival Account will help us get there.

As the chairman and ranking member know, I had considered offering an amendment that would have raised funding for this account. At the request of the gentleman from Arizona and the gentlewoman from New York, I did not offer it, but I want to say that the child survival programs are critical to our Nation's leadership on global health issues, and I would urge them to support the highest possible allocation for child health programs as this bill moves through the rest of the legislative process.

I thank them for the opportunity to engage in this colloquy.