Yesterday, the two Fiscal Commission co-chairs, Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, put forward their long-awaited draft proposal. I was looking forward to seeing bold, creative ideas for getting America's fiscal house in order. I wasn't disappointed. They leave no sacred public cow untouched. However, one thing nearly made me fall out of the chair. These seemingly well-informed insiders want to shut down the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (or OPIC). They argue that OPIC - which provides market-based financing and insurance for U.S. businesses investing in poorer countries - actually provides no net public benefit to the United States.
How does one begin with that? I'll give the co-chairs the benefit of the doubt. In typical Washington fashion, let's just blame this gross misjudgment on poor staffing. In contrast to the co-chairs stated rationale, OPIC provides huge benefits to the United States. According to OPIC, it has supported over 270,000 U.S. jobs and $72 billion worth of American exports over time. And due to U.S. legislation, it won't support transactions that would cause the loss of a single U.S. job at home.
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