[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 86 (Friday, June 24, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1353]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                DR-CAFTA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. RUSH D. HOLT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 24, 2005

  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my opposition to the 
proposed US-Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement 
(DR-CAFTA).
  Former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick led the team of U.S. 
negotiators who concluded what they consider to be a good trade 
agreement in DR-CAFTA, and President Bush signed it the summer of 2004. 
This agreement will not take effect, however, until it is formally 
submitted to the Congress for a straight up-or-down vote, pursuant to 
the fast-track trade negotiating authority that Congress approved in 
2002.
  Fast-track trade negotiating authority was first approved by Congress 
when the Trade Act of 1964 was enacted. As a result the Congress cedes 
much of its power to amend trade agreements negotiated by the 
President.
  I voted against giving the President a 5-year extension of fast-track 
trade negotiating authority in 2002. Fundamentally, I believe Congress 
ought not cede such open-ended, blanket trade negotiating authority to 
any President. Nevertheless, the DR-CAFTA agreement has been negotiated 
by the President's representatives and will come before Congress.
  International trade is not just inevitable, it is a good thing. But 
lowering the cost of goods and increasing their availabilitly is not 
the single goal of trade. Trade done right helps lift the global 
standard of living and works to protect the irreplaceable environment 
we inherited. Trade is about values. Trade agreements are not just 
about goods and commodities; they are also about what constitutes 
acceptable behavior in environmental matters, worker's rights, 
intellectual property, and so forth. We should make sure we export the 
goods we produce and not the workers who produce them.
  Each new trade agreement entered into by the U.S. should be very 
closely scrutinized. Each ought to include the strongest enforceable 
worker rights and environmental safeguards attainable, like those 
included in the U.S.-Jordan agreement of 2000. Each should also include 
enforceable rules to protect intellectual property rights and guarantee 
access for U.S.-based corporations to foreign markets. This can be 
achieved in trade agreements if we enter negotiations with clear 
principles.
  I voted against the Chile and Singapore trade agreements, for 
example, because the inadequate labor and environmental provisions 
included in them, in my estimation, failed to meet the negotiating 
objectives that Congress carefully spelled out in the 2002 law 
extending fast-track negotiating authority to the President. They did 
not provide, for example, that trade dispute settlement mechanisms 
within those free trade agreements afford equivalent treatment to 
trade-related labor and environmental protection as intellectual 
property rights and capital subsidies, and the impending DR-CAFTA fails 
in this regard, too. The agreement between the US and Jordan, on the 
other hand, is a fine example that good agreements are achievable.
  I am troubled by the DR-CAFTA that the President has signed. The DR-
CAFTA does not contain strong, enforceable provisions to protect 
internationally-recognized worker rights. Nor does it have any 
provisions for environmental safeguards. Such provisions are critical 
because they both preserve existing labor laws and environmental 
standards in the affected countries, and because they ensure that 
American companies will be competing on a more level playing field with 
our Central American neighbors. Without such provisions, U.S. companies 
and employees are forced to compete with countries that have no labor 
wage, working conditions, or environmental protections. The people of 
all countries lose in such a ``race to the bottom.''
  Mr. Speaker, I will vote against the DR-CAFTA when it comes to the 
floor of the House and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

                          ____________________