Sen. Vitter asks why the U.S. is sending money to Brazil for oil

[Geee]

Daily Caller:

Louisiana Republican Senator David Vitter reinvigorated his pursuit Friday for the reasons behind why the administration is providing South American countries money to produce oil.

“U.S. domestic energy policy cannot be based on crippling access, stifling permitting, and increasing taxes on production – as President Obama has recently proposed – while at the same time loaning billions to foreign government-owned entities to produce abroad,” Vitter said. “These loans may well create numerous jobs domestically for U.S. businesses to sell product overseas. However, there is no doubt that domestic production creates domestic jobs that cannot be shipped overseas.”

The Export-Import Bank of the United States (ExIm) has loaned Brazil’s state-owned oil company, Petrobras, and Columbia’s national oil company, Ecopetrol, $2 billion and nearly $1 billion respectively.

In a letter released Friday to the president of the ExIm, Fred Hochberg, Vitter asked what the United States can hope to get in return for these investments.

“I would appreciate a full accounting of the return on these ‘investments’ ExIm has been making as we develop domestic energy policy in a period when gas prices are above $4/gallon and American families and businesses suffer,” he wrote in the letter. “These loans may well create numerous jobs domestically for U.S. businesses to sell product overseas. However, there is no doubt that domestic production creates domestic jobs that cannot be shipped overseas.”