[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 21 (Thursday, February 2, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H1145-H1146]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                   OPPOSITION TO THE MEXICAN BAILOUT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Duncan] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to once again voice my opposition to 
the Mexican bailout, and especially to the way in which it is being 
done.
  I have frequently said that today we have a Federal Government that 
is of, by, and for the bureaucrats, instead of one that is of, by, and 
for the people. But even I did not realize how little control the 
people of this Nation now have over their own National Government.
  Once again we see the arrogance, the elitism, the public be damned, 
Big Brother knows best attitude of the powerful people who run this 
Government.
  Because of the overwhelming opposition of the American people to this 
Mexican bailout, the President did what has been described as an end 
run around Congress.
  Apparently, he found that the votes were not there, even though the 
politically correct vote, the ``anything to gain the approval of the 
national media vote'' would have been to be for this bailout.
  So the President and the big financial powers decided to come up with 
a plan that did not require congressional approval. This means that our 
Government is sending billions to Mexico even though everyone knows the 
vast majority of our people are opposed to it.
  This is the most undemocratic--with a small ``d''--thing I have seen 
during my slightly over 6 years in Congress. It flies in the face of 
the will of the American people.
  Big Government liberals have long had the belief or philosophy that 
Government knows best--that the people really don't know how to run 
their own lives or spend their own money.
  This latest action--sending this money to Mexico--is just another 
example of big government spending the people's money in a way that 
most Americans do not want. And boy are we talking money here--
billions, with a ``b.''
  A few weeks ago, through the Treasury Department and the Federal 
Reserve, we provided $9 billion of an $18 billion package to prop up 
the peso. That wasn't enough.
  Now, the President has announced he is taking $20 billion from the 
Exchange Stabilization Fund, even though this money was designed to 
stabilize our own currency and even though it has never before been 
used to prop up the money of a foreign country.
  Also, we are using $20 billion of the $25 billion in this fund, thus 
placing our own money in a less secure status.
  In addition, Mexico will receive $17.8 billion from the International 
Monetary Fund, the largest loan in the Fund's 50-year history. Who is 
the largest contributor to the IMF? The U.S. taxpayer of course.
  Then we are sending $10 billion more from the Bank for International 
Settlements.
  Billions and billions and billions--and all this at a time when the 
Heritage Foundation says Mexico already owes us over $70 billion that 
they cannot now and probably never will repay.
  The big Wall Street and International investors bought Mexican bonds 
paying 25 and 30 percent interest rates. They certainly did not share 
their profits with U.S. taxpayers, but now they want us to protect them 
from losses for their foolish risks.
  Even a liberal like A.M. Rosenthal, the New York Times columnist, has 
come out strongly against this deal.
  Last Friday, he wrote:

       Could it be that the administration had so enthusiastically 
     promoted Mexico that it would have been terribly 
     embarrasing--an election coming up and all--to disclose that 
     Mexico ``suddenly'' could not go on backing up its pesos and 
     bonds unless the United States offered heavy loans to bail 
     out investors?

  And then he wrote, while we were still talking about just $40 billion 
in loan guarantees--instead of the more lavish deal we now have:

       Economic aid is often justified, but not 40 billion dollars 
     to a country whose mess was created by the cowardice of 
     bureaucrats and the mistakes of investors, theirs and ours. 
     Americans would be foolish--I am being exquisitely polite 
     today--if they agreed to any loan before they found out which 
     American and Mexican investors would be the big 
     beneficiaries.

  Once again, Mr. Speaker, our Federal Government has shown that only 
the rich, the powerful, the wealthy, and those who work for the 
Government truly benefit from Big Government.
  [[Page H1146]] In the meantime, our taxpayers get the shaft--they are 
left holding the bag--this time for a wasteful Government in Mexico, 
whose economy has been ruined by years of socialism.
  We probably cannot stop this now, but we would if we were truly 
listening to the citizens we are supposed to be representing.


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