[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 100 (Thursday, July 21, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H6311]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2200
         WHILE ONLY A FEW MAY BE GUILTY, WE ALL ARE RESPONSIBLE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Westmoreland). Under a previous order of 
the House, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, this morning I joined my friend, the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones), to attend a prayer breakfast 
near the Capitol where more than 50 representatives of the Christian 
and Jewish faiths issued a national call for reflection on the Central 
American Free Trade Agreement. The gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. 
Jones) just described that prayer breakfast, that time of reflection.
  Despite deep and broad opposition to the Central American Free Trade 
Agreement, House leadership has promised to bring the agreement to the 
floor of the House for a vote next week. As an elected official, as a 
citizen of our great Nation, that disappoints me. As a Lutheran, as a 
person of faith, I find this trade agreement violates the tenets of my 
faith and the tenets of my belief in social justice.
  Whether Christian or Jew or Muslim, the Abramaic tradition is rooted 
in the principles of responsibility to each other as brethren, in doing 
unto others as you would have them do unto you.
  As Christians, we are given the New Testament, which shares with us 
Christ's teachings of social and economic justice.
  As Members of Congress, as Democrats and Republicans, we see 
firsthand the real and tangible effects of trade policies that 
contradict those teachings. CAFTA does just that.
  We have heard on this floor, we have heard from lobbyists, generally 
lobbyists that work for the drug companies, the insurance industry, the 
large banks, the oil companies, the big multinational corporations, we 
have heard from these lobbyists as they troll the House office 
buildings, we have heard them say, you should pass CAFTA and do this 
for the people of Central America. But the diversity of faith that was 
represented at the prayer breakfast where the gentleman from North 
Carolina (Mr. Jones) and I were today reflects so well the depth and 
breadth of opposition to the Central American Free Trade Agreement 
among religious leaders in the United States and among religious 
leaders in the Dominican Republic and in the five Central American 
countries.
  We have seen this opposition continue to grow and grow and grow. 
Workers, small business owners, ranchers, family farmers, Democrats, 
Republicans, House and Senate Members, Central American legislators, 
and dozens of Republicans and Democrats on the House side, all share a 
common message asking not that we do not trade with Central America, 
not that we do not pass a trade agreement with Central America, but 
that we defeat this CAFTA and renegotiate a better agreement.
  Of course, the faith-based community opposes an agreement that will 
have devastating effects on millions of worshipers in all seven CAFTA 
countries, the United States and the six countries in Central America. 
Abandoned by big corporations and too often abandoned by their own 
government leaders, the world's poorest people have few to speak on 
their behalf, with little or no voice of their own.
  That is why the church, the synagogue, and the mosque are often the 
only sources of refuge for millions of workers, millions of poor 
people. In fact, these religious leaders told us today, these 50 or 60 
people of faith who rallied in opposition to this trade agreement that 
will exploit the poor in Central America and hurt working families and 
communities in our country, they told us we need a different trade 
agreement, a trade agreement that will lift up the poor, and a trade 
agreement that will respect workers in the United States of America.
  Mr. Speaker, when the world's poorest people can buy American 
products and not just make them, then we will know, finally, that our 
trade policies are working.

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