[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 60 (Tuesday, May 10, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H3090-H3091]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 CAFTA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, today more than 400 union workers and 
Members of Congress gathered in front of the United States Capitol 
delivering a united message: vote ``no'' on the Central American Free 
Trade Agreement.
  This week, the presidents of Central America and the Dominican 
Republic are touring the Nation on a United States Chamber of Commerce-
funded junket, pushing the Central American

[[Page H3091]]

Free Trade Agreement. They are traveling to Miami and Los Angeles. They 
are going to Albuquerque and to my State, Cincinnati, Ohio, attempting 
to convince the American people and the American press that CAFTA is 
good for their countries and for their people.
  Unfortunately, these leaders are not telling the whole story. Like 
our own President, they try to convince us that CAFTA will lift up low-
income workers in Central America and that CAFTA will create jobs here 
in the United States. What they have not said is that CAFTA does 
nothing to ensure enforcement of labor provisions in their own 
countries. What they have not said is that the combined purchasing 
power of the CAFTA nations, the combined purchasing power of the CAFTA 
nations, is equal to that of Columbus, Ohio; or Memphis, Tennessee; or 
Orlando, Florida. In other words, people in Guatemala and Honduras and 
Nicaragua and El Salvador and Costa Rica cannot afford to buy the steel 
produced in Pennsylvania. They cannot afford to buy cars made in Ohio. 
They cannot afford to buy textiles and apparel from North Carolina and 
South Carolina and Georgia. They cannot afford to buy software from 
Northern California or Oregon or the State of Washington.
  With all due respect, Mr. Speaker, to the Central American leaders, 
what they are not saying and what millions of us know already is that 
millions of their workers in Central America, like tens of millions of 
American workers, do not support the Central American Free Trade 
Agreement. What their leaders will not tell the American people, what 
their leaders will not share with reporters covering their junket, is 
that 8,000 Guatemalan workers protested against CAFTA in March. Two of 
them lost their lives when government forces attacked the crowds.
  We have not heard Central American leaders mention the literally tens 
of thousands of El Salvadorans who protested CAFTA in 2002. They do not 
mention the 18,000 letters sent last year by Honduran workers to their 
Honduran Congress decrying this dysfunctional cousin of the North 
American Free Trade Agreement. The Central American leaders do not 
mention the 10,000 people who protested CAFTA 1\1/2\ years ago in 
Nicaragua. They do not tell us about the 30,000 CAFTA protestors in 
Costa Rica just last fall. Hundreds of thousands of workers have 
protested CAFTA in more than 45 demonstrations in these six Central 
American countries.
  Opposition to CAFTA here in the United States has been equally 
stalwart. More than a year has passed since President Bush signed 
CAFTA. Every other trade agreement the President has brought to 
Congress has been voted on within 6 or 7 weeks. This has been 11\1/2\ 
months since the President signed it because there is so much 
opposition from American workers, from American educators, from 
American social service organizations, from Americans of both parties. 
Instead of supporting the President on CAFTA, overwhelming numbers of 
Republicans and Democrats in this body and across the country have come 
out against the agreement.
  Last month, two dozen Democrats and Republicans in Congress joined 
more than 150 business groups and labor organizations echoing a united 
message: vote ``no'' on the Central American Free Trade Agreement.
  Under NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, the U.S. has 
lost more than 1 million jobs. Under NAFTA the promise of a thriving 
middle class in Mexico was never realized. Under NAFTA, just like every 
other trade agreement, the administration, the corporate leaders make 
the same promises. They promise more manufacturing jobs in the United 
States. They promise growth in industry in the United States. They 
promise more exports from the United States. But it never happens that 
way.
  The definition of insanity is repeating the same action over and over 
and over again and expecting a different result. We have heard these 
same promises about CAFTA, about NAFTA, about trade with China, about 
the World Trade Organization. We have heard these same promises over 
and over and over again, and the American people understand the 
promises simply do not work.
  Now the President and his big business allies are hoping that 
bringing these Central American leaders on their Chamber of Commerce 
junket can help deliver support for an agreement that, frankly, as we 
look across this Chamber, is dead on arrival. Right now the U.S. 
Chamber of Commerce is hosting a reception for the visiting 
dignitaries, these six presidents, rewarding them for their lobbying 
efforts this week. Right now the leaders of these countries are raising 
their toasts to their corporate sponsors.
  Mr. Speaker, there can be no more delay. We must throw out this 
failed agreement and renegotiate the Central American Free Trade 
Agreement.

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