[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 109 (Tuesday, July 29, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H5928]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                OVERSEAS PRIVATE INVESTMENT CORPORATION

  (Mr. ROYCE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. ROYCE. Madam Speaker, the Overseas Private Investment 
Corporation, known as OPIC, provides loans and insurance to 
corporations operating overseas and at below-market cost. It is a 
subsidy. OPIC competes with private banks and insurers, only OPIC 
operates outside of the market, with the full faith and credit of the 
American taxpayer behind it. The American taxpayers are at risk.
  The Royce-Andrews-Kasich amendment, which will come up on Thursday, 
is a modest proposal. It calls for spending no more than $20.8 million 
on this program. We are asking that OPIC live within the administrative 
expenses budgeted for it in 1994, when its current authorization level 
was established.
  In this time of corporate downsizing and shrinking budgets, is it 
really so much to keep OPIC's budget from growing by $12 million, or 50 
percent? I do not think so. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' for 
this amendment on Thursday.

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