FOCUS | 15 Democrats Break Ranks, Allow CAFTA Passage

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FOCUS | 15 Democrats Break Ranks, Allow CAFTA Passage

Thu, 28 Jul 2005 06:50:02 -0700

 

 

 

FOCUS | 15 Democrats Break Ranks, Allow CAFTA Passage

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072805Z.shtml

 

House Approves Free Trade Pact

By Edmund L. Andrews

The New York Times

 

Thursday 28 July 2005

 

Washington - The House of Representatives narrowly approved the

Central American Free Trade Agreement early Thursday, allowing

President Bush to put his signature to the nation's biggest reduction

of trade barriers in more than 10 years.

 

After one of the hardest-fought legislative battles of the year,

Republican leaders were able to cut enough political deals to overcome

fears among many of their own members about foreign competition and

push ahead despite opposition from most Democrats, labor unions and

the sugar industry's powerful lobby.

 

The vote, 217 to 215, came almost a month after the Senate

approved the trade pact and gave Mr. Bush a crucial victory that had

seemed in doubt a few days ago. As recently as Tuesday, fewer than

half of Republican lawmakers had publicly endorsed the pact and almost

all Democrats were planning to vote against it.

 

But the end result did not come without some drama. The voting

took almost an hour as Republicans pressured about 8 to 10 members.

The count seemed to stall after about 30 minutes with the tally at 214

in favor and 211 against, and a handful of votes outstanding.

 

For the next half-hour, Republicans, mostly from textile states,

jockeyed over who would be allowed to vote against the bill and save

face back home. The final count came minutes after midnight.

 

Within minutes after the vote, the White House released a

statement from Mr. Bush praising the action. " By lowering trade

barriers to American goods in Central American markets to a level now

enjoyed by their goods in the US, " he said in the statement, " this

agreement will level the playing field and help American workers,

farmers and small businesses. "

 

Rob Portman, the United States trade representative, also

congratulated Congress. " I pledge to do all I can, " he said, " to

continue our efforts to listen and address members' concerns on trade. "

 

Passage of the bill came only after intense pressure from Mr.

Bush, who made a last-minute trip to the Capitol on Wednesday morning,

and after deals with reluctant lawmakers from textile-producing

states, sugar-growing areas and industrial states like Illinois, Ohio

and Pennsylvania.

 

The pact would eliminate most barriers to trade and investment

between the United States, the Dominican Republic and the Central

American nations of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and

Nicaragua.

 

Brimming with confidence, House Republican leaders declared that

the pact would benefit the United States as well as the impoverished

countries of Central America.

 

" Tonight, we have the opportunity to be the progressive,

aggressive good-neighbor party, " said Representative Bill Thomas,

Republican of California and chairman of the House Ways and Means

Committee. " We will not be the ones who say for 40 years that we want

to help and then heel to the protectionist movement. "

 

The immediate economic impact is likely to be small, at least for

the United States, because the combined economies of the six countries

are equivalent to about 1 percent of the United States economy or an

economy about the size of Tampa, Fla., and its surrounding suburbs.

 

But the political impact is likely to loom much larger. To

supporters and opponents alike, the pact became a political symbol

over how best to respond to globalization, competition from low-wage

countries and the loss of manufacturing jobs in the United States.

 

The treaty has also been the focus of a power struggle between Mr.

Bush, who championed it as a model for expanding free trade, and

Democratic lawmakers who argued that it would encourage American

companies to shift jobs out of this country while doing little to

elevate the working standards of Central Americans.

 

All but a handful of Democrats, including many who voted in 1994

for the North American Free Trade Agreement, which covered the far

bigger trading partners of Mexico and Canada, voted against the

Central American agreement even though many issues are the same.

 

Democrats charged that Mr. Bush has missed an opportunity to

elevate labor practices in Central American nations, predicting that

the pact would encourage American companies to shift jobs out of the

United States without prodding Central American countries to offer

livable wages and basic protections for workers.

 

" As our manufacturing base erodes, as our industrial base erodes,

we have a president who is contributing to the further erosion of that

base, " said Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House

Democratic leader.

 

In a crucial breakthrough, White House officials and Republican

leaders were able to win support from about half of the Republican

lawmakers from textile-producing states like Alabama, Georgia, North

Carolina and South Carolina.

 

The trade deal has been unpopular in textile states, which have

lost nearly 200,000 jobs in the industry in the last decade. But late

last week, the administration announced that the Central American

countries had agreed to several new restrictions that would benefit

mills that export yarn and certain types of fabric.

 

One important concession, for instance, calls for the Central

American countries to use American-made pockets and linings in pants

they export to the United States.

 

Representative Gresham Barrett, Republican of South Carolina, was

one of five Republicans who abandoned his opposition to the pact this

week. On Wednesday, Mr. Barrett said that he was persuaded that with

the new restrictions, the trade pact would prevent job loss to China.

 

But some textile industry groups, particularly those that

represent producers of finished products rather than yarn or fabric,

were furious and vowed to punish those who had changed their views.

 

Mr. Barrett said he was sanguine about the criticism. " Some of it

bothers you, " he said, " but I think in the long run a good Cafta

agreement will help us keep jobs in South Carolina. "

 

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