[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 102 (Monday, July 25, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H6384]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 CENTRAL AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 4, 2005, the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) is recognized 
during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I was just actually watching a speech by 
the President. It was sort of the Grimm's Fairy Tales version of why 
Members of this House should vote for CAFTA, why Members of this House 
should vote to extend a failing trade policy to another five nations in 
Central America as a template for an even larger expansion of failed 
U.S. NAFTA free trade policies throughout the western hemisphere.
  He talked about their subsistence farmers and how, if only the 
tariffs on very expensive U.S. agricultural machinery were removed, 
that additional 10 or 15 percent on the cost, how the subsistence 
farmers who average less than $1,000 a year will be buying $100,000, 
$500,000 pieces of farm equipment. They will just trot right down to 
the local bank, and I guess the bank will extend them a loan for a 
$500,000 piece of equipment they will never be able to pay for, and 
they will not be able to afford fuel to put this.
  Now, that is the same kind of falsehood we heard about NAFTA, that 
this was going to be a boon for U.S. workers and manufactured goods 
because all the people of Mexico would take all their pesos, put them 
together, and they could afford to buy almost as much stuff as the 
people of New Jersey. In the case of CAFTA it is an even smaller 
economy, less capability.
  He talked about how the factory workers there are just waiting in 
line to buy American goods. Of course $0.40 an hour, you are not going 
to be buying a lot of American goods or probably not any. But they are 
working for a lot less than American production workers.
  So what is going to happen with CAFTA? The same thing that happened 
with NAFTA. You are going to see U.S. capital flood south into Central 
America so that they can produce things that were once made here, 
textiles and other things in the case of Central America and in all 
probability. In the case of NAFTA, it was automobiles, auto parts, it 
was a whole flood of things, washing machines, driers, other 
appliances. It all went to Mexico. They predicted that NAFTA, just like 
with CAFTA, they said, oh, CAFTA is going to be great for the American 
economy. It will put people to work, create jobs. They said the same 
thing about NAFTA. It was going to create a million jobs. Instead it 
lost a million jobs.
  Now, what they do is really tricky when they talk about CAFTA. They 
talk about how they have studied it and studied it, and they see an 
increase in exports to Central America.
  What they do not say is the President's own trade commission sees a 
much bigger increase in imports from Central America. That means a net 
deficit. That means we are selling less there than we are buying back. 
It means we are going to lose more jobs. It is the same condition we 
are in with the rest of the world.
  The United States of America is borrowing $2 billion a day to finance 
the purchase of overseas goods, goods that were once made here by 
people who earned a decent living.
  This is not a sustainable model. And to extend it to Central America 
is not going to begin to put America on a better path to bringing jobs 
home to the United States, bringing wages back up for our production 
workers, seeing that they continue to have benefits.
  American workers should not be asked to compete with workers who earn 
less than a $1 an hour in Central America. But that is what will happen 
if this is passed.
  Time and time again, the experts, the administrations, including the 
Democratic administration, the Clinton administration, which was a 
total disaster on trade, as bad as Bush and maybe worse, they come to 
this Congress and they say if only, if only you will open up our 
borders, it will bring great wealth to the American people, prosperity 
and jobs. And what it has brought is the loss of 3 million 
manufacturing jobs, a deficit of $2 billion a day in trade, and driven 
down wages in countless industries across this country where all the 
boss has to say is, you will not take a pay cut? Not far to the Mexican 
border. That is where your plant is going. And they have done that 
again and again and again. So we should not extend this disaster one 
more time. And when all the apologists stand up and talk about all the 
wealth it is going to create, all the jobs and all the exports, 
remember, they said exactly the same thing about the NAFTA. They said 
exactly the same thing about China MFN and the WTO, and they were 
wrong, and there is no reason why they are not going to be wrong again, 
because they know that what they are saying is not true. It is just the 
way they have got to sell the package here to benefit a few industries 
to the disadvantage of the rest of the people in this country.
  It is time for a trade policy that makes sense for all the people of 
America, not just a treasured few who own the stock and the factories 
of the multinational corporations that have been profiting from our 
failures.

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