General Electric had a plan since last year to move jobs to France, despite their claim that they would move jobs outside of the United States and into France due to lack of Export –Import Bank funds, the Washington Examiner reported.
Last year, General Electric promised France that it would move 1,000 jobs to France by merging with power giant Alstom. Just recently, on Sept. 8, European and U.S. officials approved the deal.
"A week later, on September 15, GE announced 400 French jobs—but executives suddenly and curiously started giving a different reason than they had been giving previously," states the article.
"With no U.S. export financing available, GE must pursue non-U.S. options," stated the announcement on Sept. 15.
"In 2014, GE promised in writing to send 1,000 jobs to France in order to buy Alstom," states the Washington Examiner. "Now that European officials have approved the deal, GE is claiming that the reason it is putting these 400 jobs in France is that the Export-Import Bank has shut its doors."
The 400 jobs mentioned do not currently exist.
"To recap: the jobs that GE claimed are ‘moving’ to France don’t currently exist, were never going to be in the U.S., and the deal was on the books for more than a year," states Andy Koenig, Freedom Partners senior policy adviser.
"This politically convenient announcement had nothing to do with the Ex-Im Bank and everything to do with GE’s plan to strong-arm lawmakers into padding their bottom-line with taxpayer dollars. There’s not an imagination at work that can defend Ex-Im’s billions in corporate welfare, and Congress should reject these desperate political threats."