[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 71 (Wednesday, May 25, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H3900]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               PASS CAFTA

  (Mr. DREIER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, I have been listening to our colleagues 
talk about the fact that we are approaching Memorial Day, which we are. 
It is a very important time to remember the war dead and people who 
today are continuing to sacrifice.
  I have had the privilege of serving here for nearly a quarter 
century, and I remember very well in the 1980s when U.S. military men 
and women were struggling side by side with freedom fighters in Central 
America to ensure that we could see self-determination, the rule of 
law, and the development of political pluralism and democratic 
institutions.
  Madam Speaker, we are going to, in the coming weeks, be voting on the 
Central American Free Trade Agreement. Every single president in 
Central America has made it very clear to us that if we want to 
maintain the things for which U.S. men and women in uniform gave their 
lives, along with many Central Americans, we must lock it in by 
ensuring passage of the Central American Free Trade Agreement.
  We need to think about that sacrifice made a decade and a half ago in 
Central America as we proceed with the prospect of keeping freedom 
alive.

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