[Ip-health] Reuters: Vote Now on CAFTA or Ditch It, Say Lawmakers

[Mike Palmedo]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/26/AR2005052601183.html

Vote now on CAFTA or ditch it, say lawmakers

By Sophie Walker
Reuters
Thursday, May 26, 2005; 5:46 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers on Thursday demanded either a
speedy vote or an overhaul of President Bush's free-trade pact with
Central America, warning they had the votes to defeat it in the House of
Representatives.

"If there was a vote today we would have about 190 Democrats and 40
Republicans. This agreement is not even close," Ohio Democrat Sherrod
Brown told a news conference.

Both Republican and Democrat Senate and House members were marking the
one-year anniversary of President Bush signing the U.S-Central American
Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA, on May 28. It has since languished in
Congress amid rising opposition.

CAFTA would lower barriers to U.S. exports to Costa Rica, El Salvador,
Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, and lock in
preferential access those countries already enjoy in the U.S. market.

Many Republican opponents of the pact represent textile and
manufacturing communities or sugar producers who say they would be hard
hit by CAFTA. Most Democrats oppose the pact because they say its labor
and environmental provisions are too weak.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus, made up of 21 Congress members of
Hispanic descent, opposed CAFTA, with 14 members voting against the
pact. A majority of the caucus also opposed trade pacts with Chile,
Singapore and Morocco that were approved by Congress.

"CAFTA isn't going to provide any relief or benefits for the low-income,
low-skills workers that I represent in my district," California Democrat
Hilda Solis said on Thursday.

Referring to the Central American countries named in the pact, she
added: "The poverty levels there are horrible and I can't see CAFTA
providing relief. Let me see proof that the monies that are brought into
these countries are going to stay there and provide housing, sewage,
education and clinics."

A U.S. trade official told Reuters: "CAFTA is a great agreement for
Hispanic Americans and Americans generally. The fact that a number of
members of the Hispanic Caucus chose to abstain from the vote is a
positive sign, which suggests there are Hispanic members of Congress on
the Democrat side who are still taking a close look at CAFTA."

As lobbying on both sides of the debate grows ever more intense,
lawmakers and business groups say they hope for votes in the full House
and the Senate on CAFTA in June or July.

Republican leaders say they remain confident they can win approval of
the pact, but acknowledge the vote will be close.

"Somehow we haven't learned a thing -- the biggest trade deficit in
American history and American jobs are being sold on the back of a bad
trade agreement once again," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, a Democrat from
North Dakota.

"Either bring it here for a vote and let us have this fight -- or junk
it," Dorgan said.