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- From: GDMENDEN%MTUS5.bitnet@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu
- Subject: US loan guarantees to Israel
- Message-ID: <1992Aug19.192016.6656@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
- Followup-To: alt.activism.d
- Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
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- Resent-From: "Rich Winkel" <MATHRICH@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
- Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 19:20:16 GMT
- Approved: map@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Lines: 58
-
- August 14, 1992 Council for the National Interest
-
- US Taxpayers asked to cover $10 billion loan guarantee costs.
-
- Bush has, unfortunately, agreed to Israeli Prime Minister Rabin's
- request for $10 billion in US loan guarantees. Disappointing as
- this may be, there's even more bad news for US taxpayers: Israel
- will cover only 3.5% in "scoring" costs, that is, the set-aside
- required in case of default by Israel (which Israel will pay out
- of our money). The US Office of Budget and Management estimates the
- actual scoring costs at between 7 and 9%. This means that US
- taxpayers will have to pay up front between $350 million to $550
- million.
-
- Another negative feature is that Israel is allowed to continue
- construction of houses now underway (about 10,000 units--not
- counting East Jerusalem or the Golan Heights--adding about
- 50,000 in population to the West Bank and Gaza) and also may start
- new houses in the so-called "security settlements", to be determined
- by Israel. Under the terms set by Bush earlier this year, the US
- alone would determine how much to deduct from the guarantees for
- such construction. Now Bush has conceded that Israel and the US
- must jointly agree before anything can be deducted for these
- violations.
-
- One congressional leader has spoken out against this raid on
- the US Treasury: Congressman David R. Obey (D-Wisc.), Chairman
- of the Foreign Operations Subcommittee of teh House Appropriations
- Committee, which must handle this legislation. He has said that he
- is "not on board" for the deal Bush worked out with Rabin.
-
- Witnesses testifying in favor of these guarantees before Obey's
- subcommittee earlier this year said they were needed by Israel
- so "Israel can become the kind of place that Soviet Jews will
- want to immigrate to," so "we can reach the level of some of
- the great economies of the Western world", and because "we want
- to enrich the lives of Soviet Jews coming to Israel."
-
-
- Write your congressional representative: Oppose the idea that the
- US taxpayers should pick up the bill for $350-550 million in
- "scoring" charges and up to $100 million additional per year
- in administrative expenses. There is risk enough of long-term
- default, which could cost taxpayers as much as $30 billion, including
- interest, without paying more than half-a-billion in other charges.
-
- The Honorable ____________
- US Senate
- Washington, DC 20510
-
- The Honorable ___________
- US House of Representatives
- Washington, DC 20515
-
- Or phone: 202-225-3121
-
-
- gdm
-