Why One State Lawmaker Is Criticizing GE for Using the Export-Import Bank as a ‘Scapegoat’
Melissa Quinn /
A Wisconsin state lawmaker is criticizing General Electric for blaming its decision to move out of the state on the Export-Import Bank’s expiration.
Wisconsin state Rep. Scott Allen accused the company of using the embattled agency as a “scapegoat.”
In a statement released Monday, Allen said GE spokesman Patrick Theisen encouraged him to blame the closure of the company’s Waukesha, Wis., plant on the July expiration of the Export-Import Bank’s charter. In reality, Allen told The Daily Signal he felt the decision had been “in the works” for some time.
“Mr. Theisen was eager to connect me with his public relations department to help me gin up a press release blaming Congress and demanding they act,” Allen said in a statement. “In the same conversation, practically in the same breath, he told me that the decision on the Waukesha plant was made some time ago and that it was irreversible.”
GE announced Monday that its Power and Water division would stop manufacturing gas engines at its facility in Waukesha, and instead open a new plant in Canada, taking 350 jobs with it.
The company pointed to the availability of export financing from Canada’s export credit agency, Export Development Canada, as the reason for closing the Wisconsin plant and said it hopes the subsidies available in Canada will fill the “gap” left by Ex-Im.
President Barack Obama visited the plant in 2014 and discussed the importance of job-training programs.
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Ex-Im provides taxpayer-backed loans and loan guarantees to foreign countries and companies for the purchase of U.S. products.
In an emailed statement to The Daily Signal, a spokesman for GE said Wisconsin lawmakers understood the company’s reason for leaving Waukesha.
“Scott Allen clearly misunderstood our announcement. We contacted a range of Wisconsin officials from both parties about this news, and there was no confusion,” GE said. “This is a hard decision, but one we were forced to make in order to continue serving customers who require export credit financing.”
Allen disagreed.
“I think the Ex-Im Bank is just simply a scapegoat, and they’re using this for political purpose,” he told The Daily Signal. “That’s my opinion about it.”
“GE is a pretty savvy company. They don’t make decisions on a whim,” he continued. “They’re making long-term strategic decisions, and we got caught in the crosshairs. To blame it on the Export-Import Bank, I don’t think so. I don’t buy that.”
Ex-Im’s charter expired June 30, and since then, the bank’s two biggest beneficiaries—Boeing and GE—have announced decisions to move jobs overseas because of its lapse in authority, hoping to put pressure on lawmakers to reauthorize the agency.
In 2013, GE benefited from nearly 10 percent of Ex-Im’s financing.
Supporters of the bank argue that it creates jobs and helps small businesses expand into global markets. Opponents, meanwhile, say Ex-Im serves as an engine of corporate welfare and cronyism.