[Ecommerce] CAFTA: Things are heating up on the Hill

[Manon Ress]

http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/042105/cafta.=
html

Showdown looms as hearings on CAFTA begin in the House
By Geoff Earle

Business and labor groups are ratcheting up their lobbying efforts on a
Central American trade bill that political observers say will be
critical to determining the fate of the administration=92s overall trade
agenda.

Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez told the Emergency Committee for
American Trade yesterday that the Central American Free Trade Agreement
(CAFTA) is =93the trade priority right now=94 and questioned why anyone
would oppose it.

=93What would it say about the prospects for global free trade if we
didn=92t meet the challenge of our own hemisphere?=94 he asked. =93How can =
we
do anything but support our friends and neighbors in Central America?=94

But congressional leaders with jurisdiction on trade matters are having
difficulty retaining support from their own members on the agreement,
while leading Democrats are lining up opposition.

=93I think it=92s in serious trouble,=94 Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), told T=
he
Hill in an interview in his office. =93There=92s growing opposition in the
Senate. They=92re clearly not confident, or they wouldn=92t have waited a
year to bring it up.=94

Dorgan said the agreement, which also includes the Dominican Republic,
would destroy the ability of his state=92s sugar-beet growers and Southern
sugar-cane growers to compete. Dorgan has formed an anti-CAFTA caucus,
which also includes Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Larry Craig
(Idaho) and Norm Coleman (Minn.).

Several Southern Republicans in the Senate, including Saxby Chambliss of
Georgia, also have criticized the agreement. =93It has a level of
resistance that I have not seen before,=94 Graham said.

Graham helped engineer a recent Senate vote on China=92s trade and
currency practices that won support from two-thirds of the Senate. =93If
CAFTA goes down, it will be the strongest signal since the vote we just
had that the Senate wants better policing of trade practices,=94 he said.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) plans to bring CAFTA to a vote
in May, but opponents have begun questioning whether he will be able
call it up without finding more support. Only three House Democrats,
Reps. William Jefferson (La.), Henry Cuellar (Texas) and Jim Moran
(Va.), have backed the agreement, and a House Democratic leadership aide
estimated GOP defections were in the high double digits. Some put the
number as high as 30, while Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said 60
Republicans are against CAFTA.

=93It=92s in a lot of trouble,=94 the Democratic aide said. =93I don=92t se=
e how
they can bring it to the floor. I don=92t think there=92s anywhere near the
situation where they could balance Republican defections with Democratic
pickups.=94

So far, Democratic leaders haven=92t been actively working against the
agreement =97 although labor and outside groups have been on Capitol Hill
meeting with members this week. Business groups also have been stepping
up their efforts in support of it.

=93I assume there will be significant leadership opposition, and
significant communication on this bill from leadership,=94 the aide said.
=93That hasn=92t happened yet.=94

Supporters have been hurt by the retirement of Rep. Cal Dooley
(D-Calif.) and the death of Rep. Robert Matsui (D-Calif.), who were both
leaders on trade. Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.), the ranking Democrat on
the Trade Subcommittee on Ways and Means, has come out against the pact.
The Ways and Means Committee holds its first hearing on CAFTA today.

Sugar and textile interests, meanwhile, have been working hard to
convince individual members that CAFTA isn=92t a good deal for U.S. produce=
rs.

Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) said yesterday that he was still concerned
with the deal=92s textile provisions. He said talks continue with the
Commerce Department on possible modifications to the agreement. Asked if
he thought CAFTA could pass the normally free-trade-leaning Senate, Burr
replied, =93I don=92t think so.=94 But he said that if the administration
solves the textile and sugar problems =93it passes easily.=94

Dorgan, though, warned members not to put faith in side agreements
reached with the administration in the days leading up to a vote.
=93They=92re not worth the paper they=92re printed on,=94 he said. =93They =
don=92t
mean a thing.=94 Under laws governing trade-promotion authority, Congress
cannot change the substance of the agreement itself.

In his speech yesterday, Gutierrez pointed to substantial growth in the
U.S. economy and cited a Chamber of Commerce prediction that U.S. sales
to Central America could expand by $3 billion in the first year after
the agreement takes effect.

But asked whether President Bush would begin to speak out on the
agreement, Gutierrez would only say that he expected the discussion to
increase in intensity. Asked why more Democrats weren=92t supporting the
deal, and what the administration is doing about it, he responded, =93I
have a hard time explaining it.=94 He added that after dealing with CAFTA
the administration would be able to turn to a Free Trade Area of the
Americas being negotiated with Brazil, and to the Doha round of trade talks=
.

Some observers predict that CAFTA will provoke the biggest trade fight
in years.

=93There will come a time when Congress will just make a stand,=94 Dorgan
said. =93I think CAFTA is where Congress will take a stand.=94

=93People want to put this all on sugar, textiles and labor,=94 said Thea
Lee, chief international economist for the AFL-CIO. =93Maybe people feel
like they=92ve been burned on some of the trade votes they=92ve cast in the
past.=94





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--
Manon Anne Ress
manon.ress@cptech.org,
www.cptech.org

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