America Bailing Out Europe - Republican Amendment Would Bar U.S. Bailouts of Foreign Nations
A growing number of Republicans say Americans have seen enough bailouts at home, and their tax dollars should not be going to rescue foreign governments.Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) on Wednesday introduced an amendment to the financial regulatory reform bill that would bar American taxpayers from bailing out “irresponsible” foreign governments.
The amendment would require the president to evaluate any proposed bailout of a foreign nation whose public debt exceeds its annual Gross Domestic Product and then certify to Congress whether the bailout loan will be repaid.
If the administration cannot certify that the bailout loan will be repaid, the U.S. would be required to vote against the proposed bailout at the International Monetary Fund.
“This amendment will help prevent American taxpayer dollars from underwriting dysfunctional governments abroad,” Cornyn said.
Sen. David Vitter, who co-sponsored the amendment, said it’s bad enough that American taxpayers had to foot the bill for the “mistakes” of big banks and big automakers. “Our country already owes trillions of dollars in debt. We simply can’t afford to take on other countries’ debt in addition to our own,” Vitter said.
Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), in remarks on the House floor Wednesday, said not only are the American people bailing out Greece – they should know that they may also be picking up the tab for billions of dollars in additional loan guarantees for the rest of Europe.
“Here’s how it works,” Pence said: The European Union and the IMF recently pledged $145 billion to bail out Greece. Forty billion dollars is coming from the IMF. The United States, as the largest contributor to the IMF, will pay 17 percent of the $40 billion. That means American taxpayers “are on the hook for $6.8 billion in loan guarantees for the IMF,” Pence said.
And it may just be a down payment, Pence continue: “The EU just last weekend talked about a $1 trillion bailout plan that could put U.S. taxpayers on the hook for $50 billion in additional loan guarantees to bail out Europe.”
Pence noted that the European Union was formed to compete with the U.S. economically. “It is simply not right to ask the people of the United States of America to provide loan guarantees to bail out an economic competitor in Europe. Nobody wants to see the EU fail. But we’re not asking their help for New Jersey or California — they shouldn’t be asking our help for Portugal, Spain or Greece,” Pence said.
Pence, who chairs the House Republican Conference, has sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner stating his objections to the Greek bailout and where it may lead.
Last week, the White House issued a statement saying that President Obama welcomes the reform program announced by Greece “as well as the significant support that was agreed to by the IMF and Eurozone members.”
The White House said it “strongly” supports the effort to “help restore stability to Greece and confidence to the global financial system, and we will continue to communicate this to European officials.”
Read more at CNSNews
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment