[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 126 (Tuesday, August 1, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H8076]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  CALLING FOR FULL HEARINGS ON NAFTA BEFORE PLANNING A NAFTA EXPANSION
  (Ms. KAPTUR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, most Members do not know, tomorrow the 
Subcommittee on Trade of the Committee on Ways and Means is going to do 
it to United States workers again: to strike a deal to add Chile to 
NAFTA, and then bring the matter up here for a vote under a closed 
rule, with no opportunity for us to amend. The subcommittee has been so 
secretive that even members of the subcommittee were only given the 
legislation last Friday, late in the afternoon.
  This is just the latest example of what is wrong with U.S. trade 
policy: the handiwork of a few powerful people behind closed doors 
without full debate, and little public participation, and at the last 
minute, with no opportunity for us to fully debate or amend. Full 
debate is a precondition to representative democracy.
  For this reason, I and 50 of my colleagues, Republicans and 
Democrats, are requesting full hearings to be held on the NAFTA record 
to date by the Committee on Ways and Means before expanding any 
proposed NAFTA accord to include yet another country. America cannot 
afford billions more of trade deficit and hundreds and hundreds of 
thousands of more lost good-paying jobs. America cannot afford another 
bad trade agreement.


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