Steve Daines on Free Trade

Worked for 6 years bringing U.S. consumer products to China

Independently, both of those claims are more or less accurate. But we think the clear implication is that one caused the other, and that Daines was responsible for it. On both of those scores, clear evidence is lacking.

Daines, then 29, worked for P&G in China from 1991 to 1997 to help expand the company bringing U.S. consumer products into China. And in 1993, P&G announced a plan to "streamline" its operations by closing 30 plants and eliminating 13,000 jobs worldwide--including four plants and 4,000 jobs in the U.S. But did expansion in China come at the expense of American jobs? Walsh campaign officials claim it did. [We rule that there's no support] that Daines was responsible.

Voted YES to kill reauthorization of Ex-Im Bank.

Heritage Action summary of vote# S206: The Senate voted to table (kill) an amendment by Sen. Kirk to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank. Sen. Kirk recommends voting NO. Heritage Foundation recommends voting YES because the "Ex-Im Bank is little more than a $140 billion slush fund for corporate welfare."

OnTheIssues explanation: Voting NO would allow a vote on reauthorization of the Ex-Im Bank. Voting YES would kill the bill for reauthorizing the Ex-Im Bank.

Congressional Summary from previous Ex-Im bill S.824; the Ex-Im Bank shall:
• Provide technical assistance to small businesses on how to apply for financial assistance;
• Establish programs under which private financial institutions may share risk in loans & guarantees.
• The Bank may enter into up to $25 billion worth of contracts of reinsurance or co-finance.

Cato Institute reason for voting YES to kill the bill:The Ex-Im Bank's reauthorization buffs contend that Ex-Im fills a void left by private sector lenders unwilling to provide financing for certain transactions. Ex-Im's critics [say that] by effectively superseding risk-based decision-making with the choices of a handful of bureaucrats pursuing political objectives, Ex-Im risks taxpayer dollars. It turns out that for nearly every Ex-Im financing authorization that might advance the fortunes of a single US company, there is at least one US industry whose firms are put at a competitive disadvantage. These are the unseen consequences of Ex-Im's mission.