Trump Preserves the Export-Import Bank

When early drafts of the Trump budget started to circulate after the inauguration, the Export-Import Bank—one of Washington’s most notorious corporate-welfare programs—was among the agencies destined for the chopping block. Now the actual budget is out, and the bank has been spared the ax. The Washington Examiner‘s Tim Carney reports that this “follows many reports from congressional fans of Ex-Im that Trump had been persuaded to love the agency, which primarily subsidizes Boeing sales.” (Barack Obama underwent a similar transformation, denouncing the bank as “little more than a fund for corporate welfare” while he was running for president but fighting to preserve it once in office.)

The budget plan does have some good news for foes of corporate handouts. Carney points out that the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (which “subsidizes U.S. companies that want to set up business overseas, such as a Ritz Carlton in Turkey or a Wendy’s in the Republic of Georgia”) is still slated to go, as are the U.S. Trade and Development Agency and the money allocated for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership. The Community Development Block Grant Program, also marked for death, has a long history of funding officials’ business cronies, as my colleague Scott Shackford noted earlier today. And there are other corporate subsidies that will be cut, including several at the Department of Energy.

But the biggest hub of crony capitalism in Washington is the military-industrial complex. And that, alas, is set to expand: Trump wants to give the Pentagon a $52.3 billion spending spike. I’m glad for any small victories against the corporate state, but in the grand scheme of things they’re getting swamped.