Paul Ryan on Export-Import Bank: ‘I Want to Get Rid of It’

Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, spoke today of his support for ending the Export-Import Bank.

“I want to get rid of it,” Paul said of the bank. The bank’s charter is set to expire Sept. 30, unless Congress votes to reauthorize the bank.

The Wisconsin Republican labeled the institution a manifestation of progressive crony capitalism and warned that the bank “is corrupting free enterprise through and through.”

Speaking to reporters after his speech at the Kirby Center affiliated with Hillsdale College, Ryan renewed his call to end the institution, warning that in the past many Republicans “have mistaken being pro-business with being pro-free market.”

“I think we need to reassert that we all have made, myself included, have made this mistake,” Ryan said.

Instead, he argued that a distinction must be made between “what is free market economics and what’s pro-business incumbent protection.”

Ryan sees the Export-Import Bank as “a pretty obvious example of cronyism.”

“We’ve got to stay away from cronyism,” Ryan said of Republicans, adding that “our party has flirted with this in the past.”