[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 57 (Wednesday, May 4, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H2939-H2940]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              DEFEAT CAFTA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, proponents of the so-called free trade 
agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement, which I 
opposed, have long promised endless riches for U.S. workers, farmers, 
businesses and the economy. Of course, they have been wrong on all 
counts. But they are not to be deterred. They want another bite of the 
apple here. They think that the American people and Members of Congress 
who represent them, those who have lost their jobs, seen their jobs 
threatened, their standard of living diminished as we have gone into 
massive trade deficits and exported industries overseas in pursuit of 
cheaper labor and lower environmental standards, that they can fool us 
again.
  The President finished secret negotiations a year ago the end of this 
month for what is called the Central American Free Trade Agreement. And 
they are promising all the same things. I went before the Committee on 
Ways and Means which reluctantly, begrudgingly, allowed some of us to 
testify in opposition to this pending agreement.
  Now, there is no legislative process. They mark up what is called a 
mock bill or a pretend bill or a play bill in Ways and Means. They are 
not allowed

[[Page H2940]]

to amend it or change it. The President secretly negotiated it, and it 
will be brought to this floor for an up-or-down vote, no amendments 
allowed. Congress has given up all its rights as a legislative body and 
its constitutional rights as relate to trade agreements between the 
U.S. and foreign countries.
  If this were in the best interests of the United States or an urgent 
priority, it might make sense; but what it does is perpetuate a failed 
and failing trade policy. The United States of America, the Bush 
administration, is setting a record every month this year. 
Congratulations to the Bush administration. They have us on track for 
beating last year's trade deficit of $620 billion to $720 billion, $2 
billion a day borrowed from foreign interests representing tens of 
thousands, hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs that have moved to China, 
India, Central America, Latin America, Mexico and other countries 
chasing the cheapest labor they can find, the most exploited labor they 
can find, the most environmental depredations they can find around the 
world.
  They think that this is just working great. The President thinks that 
it just shows our economy is really strong. That is why we are running 
these huge trade deficits. So they want to replicate it closer to home 
so U.S. companies do not have to go all the way to China to exploit 
cheap labor; they could move a little closer to home in Central 
America.
  When they offered NAFTA, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce predicted it 
would create 170,000 jobs in the United States. Many on that side of 
the aisle are still talking about all the great jobs that will come 
from NAFTA. Of course, and now CAFTA, it actually cost the United 
States 880,000 jobs. So they were off by a million jobs. That is a 
pretty big miss. CAFTA is likely to accelerate that trend.
  They tell us, Oh, it's just that we want to sell things to Central 
America. Think of the massive buying power of those people in Central 
America. They earn $2 a day. If they devoted all of the economies to 
all of the countries that would be included in CAFTA, if every penny in 
those countries was spent on buying U.S. goods, it would equal 5 days' 
production in the United States of America.
  No, it is not about selling U.S. goods there any more than it was 
about selling goods to Mexico or selling goods to China. It is creating 
an export platform for U.S. companies who want to move overseas and 
have cheaper labor and avoid environmental laws and protections in this 
country.
  The only problem with this theory is what happens to the middle 
class? What happens to the working people of this country? We are 
larding them down with a huge foreign debt, $2 billion a day, and they 
are losing their jobs. How is this model sustainable? It also 
undermines our sovereignty. As we borrow more and more money from 
overseas, China, Japan and other countries, they get more and more 
capable of squeezing our country economically.
  And it will hurt farmers. For the first time in our history, the 
United States of America is going to run a trade deficit in 
agriculture. That was going to be one of the big winners under the WTO, 
CAFTA, NAFTA. Oh, it's going to be great for ag. I remember having all 
these farmers come in, Oh, this is going to help us so much, the wheat 
farmers in Oregon. They were back the next year saying, You were right. 
The Chinese bought one shipload and that was it.
  Now, they are talking about shipping wheat to the United States of 
America. We are going to run a trade deficit in agriculture. We are 
going to become not only dependent upon foreign countries to borrow 
money and build things that we use every day but to feed us, and we are 
going to ask them to lend us the money to buy the food to feed 
ourselves.
  This is not a policy that is sustainable and in the national economic 
interest or the national economic security or defense interest. We need 
a new model for trade, not replicating the old failed model. I am 
pleased to see that more and more and more of my colleagues are coming 
around to this conclusion.
  Defeat CAFTA.

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