[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 8 (Tuesday, January 23, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H745]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      NAFTA AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Goss] is recognized during 
morning business for 3 minutes.
  Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, January first marked the 2-year anniversary of 
NAFTA. As we begin the third year of tariff reductions and opening 
markets under this accord, it is appropriate to take a moment to assess 
our progress--so far reports show NAFTA has been a mixed bag: Mostly 
the news is positive; however, there are some serious problem areas 
that clearly need attention. In Florida, we are particularly concerned 
about the negative impact that import surges of tomatoes and other 
winter fruit and vegetables are having on southwest Florida's growers, 
the packing houses and the workers in these industries. This is a bi-
partisan concern--and I am pleased that Senator Bob Graham is working 
this issue in the Senate. On November 16, 1993, the President wrote a 
letter to the members of the Florida delegation, assuring us that he 
was committed to taking the necessary steps to ensure that the trade 
representative and the ITC would take prompt and effective action to 
protect the United States vegetable industry against price-based import 
surges from Mexico. Now is the time for him to take that action 
because, unfortunately, it seems that the safeguards in NAFTA and the 
implementing language--the volume-based snapback provision, the 
automatic price monitoring and the expedited import relief procedures--
have not lived up to our hopes. They are not working properly. I am 
currently drafting legislation calling on the President to live up to 
the promise he made and to protect our growers from potentially unfair 
Mexican trading practices. In the meantime, my colleagues in the 
Florida delegation and I will continue to work in a bipartisan, 
bicameral fashion to address the urgent needs of the Florida fruit and 
vegetable industries. To their credit the Department of Agriculture has 
been very forthcoming and willing to work with the Florida delegation 
and our growers.
  Unfortunately, I have to say that the USTR could be more helpful. Of 
course, the administration and its officers can't fix all of the 
problems, some of that is our responsibility in Congress. In response 
to the very real needs of the tomato and fruit and vegetable industries 
in Florida, a series of bills have been introduced to address 
definitional problems faced by our growers when they attempted to seek 
relief through the section 202 process, to address the differences in 
enforced packing requirements between Mexican and domestic growers, and 
to create national country of origin labeling to allow consumers to 
make more informed decisions when they make their individual purchasing 
choices at the market. An invitation has been issued for U.S. Trade 
Representative Ambassador Kantor and Secretary of Agriculture Dan 
Glickman to brief Florida delegation members on the tomato and winter 
fruit and vegetable situation. I understand this meeting will take 
place tomorrow and I hope it will bring progress we need and look for. 
This is a critical issue for Florida and an important one for the 
Nation.
  I think it is also a very critical one in terms of living up to the 
promises that have been made.
  Those of us who felt NAFTA would be good for the United States of 
America want to be certain that we correct the sore spots that are 
there, if they are correctable. If not, we will have to excise those 
sore spots with legislation. In any event, once we see those sore 
spots, the time is now to move, and we have seen them and we must move.

                          ____________________