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Rand Paul on Corporations |
Some will ask, "But what of the safety net?" I say: We will not cut one penny from the safety net until we've cut every penny from corporate welfare!
So much of Washington's inability to cut waste in government comes from them not doing their job. It has been several decades since Congress passed all the spending bills individually. Instead, the spending bills are lumped together in something that is thousands of pages long. They allow no amendments to cut wasteful spending. Often the bill is plopped on our desk with only a few hours to review. No one, and I mean no one, is able to read what is in the bill. To fix this, I will introduce legislation called "Read the Bills Act." It mandates that Congress wait one day for each 20 pages of legislation.
Government spending doesn't work. It doesn't create jobs. Only the democracy of the marketplace can find those capable of creating jobs.
In a horrific turn of events for private property owners across the US, the Supreme Court ruled in the favor of the City of New London in the case "Kelo v City of New London". This was a dangerous landmark decision in US law.
When you seek to punish Mr. Exxon Mobil, you punish the secretary who owns Exxon Mobil stock.
When you block the Keystone Pipeline, you punish the welder who works on the pipeline.
The great and abiding lesson of American history, particularly the Cold War, is that the engine of capitalism--the individual--is mightier than any collective. American inventiveness and desire to build developed because we were guaranteed the right to own our success. For most of our history, no one dared tell Americans: "You didn't build that."
When you say they didn't build it, you insult each and every American who ever got up at the crack of dawn. When the president says, "You didn't build that," he is flat out wrong. Businessmen and women did build that. Businessmen and women did earn their success. Without the success of American business, we wouldn't have any roads, or bridges, or schools.
TRANSCRIPT: I rise today in opposition to corporate welfare. At a time when our country is borrowing over a trillion dollars a year, I think it makes no sense to loan money back to countries we are borrowing from. For example, we borrowed $29 billion from Mexico, and yet we're sending them back $8 billion of the money we borrow from them to subsidize trade. A lot of the subsidized trade goes to very wealthy corporations.
We're not talking about starting new companies for the most part, we're mostly talking about subsidizing very wealthy multinational companies. With the start-up companies the export-import bank is subsidizing [companies that donate to federal officials and Obama].
Congressional Summary:
Supporter's Comments: (by CUNA, a pro-credit union organization)
America's small businesses are the engine of growth of our nation's economy. The effects of the financial crisis of the past few years have spread to all types of lending, resulting in a reduction in the availability
of business credit. At a time when banks are withdrawing credit from America's small businesses, credit unions have actually been expanding credit to small businesses, but with more credit unions approaching the cap, this growth is threatened. Congress should enact legislation which increases the credit union member business lending cap from 12.25% of assets to 27.5% for well-capitalized credit unions
Opponent's Comments: (by the Independent Community Banks of America, Nov. 15, 2012)
The tax-subsidized credit union industry is pressing for doubling the statutory cap Congress placed on member business loans. Shifting assets from tax-paying banks to tax-exempt credit unions would reduce tax revenue to the government; the CBO estimates the revenue impact at $354 million over 10 years. We believe that banks are currently meeting the needs of credit-worthy businesses, as substantiated by numerous business surveys.
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is North America's Neighborhood Union--1.3 million members with UFCW locals in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Canada. Our members work in supermarkets, drug stores, retail stores, meatpacking and meat processing plants, food processing plants, and manufacturing workers who make everything from fertilizer to shoes. We number over 60,000 strong with 25,000 workers in chemical production and 20,000 who work in garment and textile industries.