House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) used President Obama’s Martha’s Vineyard vacation to criticize the Export-Import Bank on Friday.
“We have a suggested day-trip he could make when he gets bored after his umpteenth round of golf and the inevitable campaign fundraiser,” Hensarling’s committee staff posted in a new blog, obtained first by The Hill.
{mosads}“He could visit the millions of taxpayer dollars ‘invested’ by the Export-Import Bank into Evergreen Solar between 2009-2010. It’s just a 3-hour drive from Martha’s Vineyard (even quicker with Air Force One!),” the post said.
“Oh, wait. Nope. Never mind. He CAN’T visit Evergreen Solar. In 2011, the company filed for bankruptcy, packed up and moved production to China — laying off 800 workers.”
According to disclosures from the Export-Import bank, Ex-Im provided $16.48 million in financing for Evergreen Solar in 2009 and 2010. In 2011, the solar-panel company shut down its American plant and moved to China.
Hensarling is one of the top critics of the 80-year-old bank, which will see its charter expire on Sept. 30 unless Congress votes to reauthorize it.
Obama is scheduled to go on vacation with his family for two weeks in Martha’s Vineyard, though he will come back to D.C. halfway through the trip to attend meetings in Washington.
Hensarling and other Tea Party critics argue the bank is “corporate welfare” designed to prop up big businesses like Boeing and Caterpillar.
More centrist Republicans and most Democrats argue that the bank is needed to help finance business deals around the world so that U.S. companies can make inroads in emerging markets while sustaining jobs in America.