In a true free market, government steps out of the way and allows businesses to compete against one another, reaping whatever successes or failures result from their decisions. As Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman put it: “What we have is not a profit system; it’s a profit and loss system. The loss part is just as important as the profit part.”

Unfortunately, Republicans can’t seem to grasp this simple axiom. Though GOP lawmakers talk a big game about wanting to limit government, they are susceptible to big government if they can be convinced that a given policy benefits big business. To show voters they truly believe in free enterprise, Senate Republicans should work to kill the corporate welfare agency known as the Export-Import Bank.