[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 102 (Monday, July 25, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H6410-H6411]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
LACK OF SUPPORT FOR CAFTA
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. JONES of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I am on the floor again
tonight. I have been speaking against CAFTA. I have joined my friends
on both the Republican side and the Democratic side who feel that CAFTA
is not good for the American workers and not good for the American
people and certainly does not help those in Central America.
And tonight I want to take just a few minutes and insert for the
Record the entirety of a letter from seven members of the general
assemblies down in five of the countries that are opposed to CAFTA.
Mr. Speaker, the gentleman that I met recently is from El Salvador,
and this was at a conference last week that the gentleman from Ohio
(Mr. Brown) and I attended, Interfaith Council of Protestants,
Catholics, and also one rabbi to speak in opposition to CAFTA.
Let me just give the first introductory statement. It says: ``Dear
Members of the United States Congress, the CAFTA market has fewer than
9.2 million people who can buy U.S. goods.''
Now, this is a long letter. It is signed by seven members of the
Central American assemblies, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala and
Honduras.
Mr. Speaker, I want to go to the last paragraph of the letter from
those members of the elected bodies of those countries. And this is
what it says in the close of their letter, not mine, but their letter:
``CAFTA is a bad trade deal because it puts the interests of
international corporations ahead of the welfare of the working poor and
the poor in Central America. If CAFTA is approved, the social
instability that CAFTA supporters like to use as a reason for approving
the agreement will come not from outside forces, but from the pressures
created by the millions of displaced workers who will fall further into
poverty.''
It is time to say ``no'' to CAFTA and begin negotiating a new trade
agreement that takes into account the region's need for development and
real opportunity for its citizens. We respectfully ask you for your
support of our people and vote ``no'' on CAFTA.
Mr. Speaker, again this is from seven people from different countries
who represent their people in Central America who are opposed to this
agreement.
Let me now go, in the few minutes I have left, to a joint statement
concerning the United States Central American Free Trade Agreement by
the Bishops' Secretariat of Central America and the chairman of the
Domestic and International Policy Committees of the United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops.
And let me just make a few points that they make in their long letter
of opposition. First it says: ``In light of the values and principles
that we have outlined as well as the situation of the people, we
express some of our specific concerns about the potential impact of
CAFTA on our countries, especially in Central America.''
I am going to just read a few points: ``There has not been sufficient
information and debate in our countries about the various aspects of
CAFTA and its impact on our societies.'' Another point: in the area of
agriculture, there is insufficient attention given to such sensitive
issues as the potential impact that U.S. farm supports on Central
America farm products. It seems like that poor farming communities in
Central America will suffer greatly when subsidized agricultural
products from United States expand their reach into these markets.
Another point made by the bishops: while certain labor and
environmental provisions are included in the agreement, it is not clear
that the enforcement mechanisms within CAFTA will lead to stronger
protections of fundamental worker rights and the environment.
Then there is one other point that I want to read, Mr. Speaker. This,
again, was from the Catholic Bishops of Central America and the
Catholic Bishops of America: the treaty will have effects on
intellectual property rights. The proposed legal framework could
jeopardize a right of Central American countries to exercise proper
stewardship of their natural resources.
Mr. Speaker, I am here tonight because in my State of North Carolina,
I was not here when NAFTA passed back in 1992, enacted in 1993, but we
have lost over 200,000 jobs in North Carolina. In the country of
America, we have lost better than 2.5 million jobs since NAFTA was
enacted in 1993.
I did not vote for Trade Promotion Authority. I did not think
President
[[Page H6411]]
Bush should have it, nor Clinton. I am not for trying to enable the
Chinese to have all of the manufacturing, all of the moneys, and to
build their military like they are doing. That is of great concern to
many Americans in this country.
Mr. Speaker, to my left there is an article that was in a paper in
one of my counties in eastern North Carolina about 4 months ago. And it
says: VF Jeanswear closes plant. Operations performed in Wilson, North
Carolina, which included fabric cutting and finishing garments will be
moved to Central America. Quite frankly, it is going to Honduras.
Four hundred forty-five American citizens lost their jobs. They are
going to Central America without even CAFTA. I do not know what it
takes for this Congress to understand that if this country becomes a
second-rate manufacturing country, then we can place our orders for
airplanes and tanks from China.
Mr. Speaker, I hope that I do not live long enough to see that
happen. But I am afraid it is going to happen. CAFTA is not good for
the American people. It is not even good for the people in these five
Central American countries. They need to redraw this amendment. I think
I can support an amendment if it were fair to America and fair to
Central America.
Let us bury CAFTA next week or this week, and God bless America and
our men and women in uniform.
The letter previously referred to follows:
July 19, 2005.
Dear Members of the United States Congress:
The CAFTA Market Has Fewer Than 9.2 Million People Who Can Buy U.S.
Goods
President Bush claims that the CAFTA countries represent a
growing market for U.S. goods. Unfortunately, this claim is
far from the truth. A document prepared by CEPAL (the
Economic Commission for Latin America-United Nations)
entitled, ``Development Objectives of the millennium, A
Glance from Latin America and the Caribbean,'' June 10, 2005,
reveals that of a population of 46 million people in the five
Central American countries and the Dominican Republic, 25.6
million are poor. Only 20.4 million people are considered
non-poor people. These numbers show that the open market of
44 million people that Pres. Bush claims will buy U.S. made
goods does not exist. The majority of Central Americans are
too poor to be able to afford U.S. made goods.
Furthermore, the majority of those who are considered non-
poor (20.4 million people), are not secure market for most of
the higher end goods and services that the North American
companies want to export. This fact has been established by
the same study CEPAL which affirms that 20 percent of those
46 million people, control more of 50 percent of the income;
this can only mean that only 9.2 million people are the real
market for U.S. companies. This is the same market that it is
already shared with companies of the region, Europe and Asian
countries who export to the region.
The low competitive advantage that companies of the Central
American region have (i.e., low technology, high interest
rates on financing, low skilled workforce), compared to the
U.S. companies, will mean that the majority of small and
large domestic firms will be devastated, subsequently
generating more unemployment and less purchasing capacity for
the rest of the population.
As in the case of the agro-business products, the level of
asymmetry between the subsidized U.S. agro-products, and the
non-subsidized Central American products, the situation of
displacement is even worse. On its own account, the U.S.
Department of Commerce forecast that the present levels of
U.S. production will increase by more than 20 billions
dollars in the first nine years of the implementation of
CAFTA. More exports of U.S. goods to the region, while it is
seen as a benefit for U.S. farmers, only means more
displacement of the Central American agricultural production,
the destruction of the already vulnerable food industry
capacity of the region. This further aggravates the levels of
poverty and unemployment of million of central American
farmers in the region, who are already facing a very
difficult economic and social crisis due to the lack of rural
development policies by their own governments.
Therefore based on these facts, we believe the following:
CAFTA will only lead to more social instability in the region
as more medium and small farmers will lose their livelihoods
and become part of the poor population numbers; CAFTA will
bring a weakening of the already vulnerable democratic
processes in Central America as more people are excluded from
the productive sectors of the economy. More exploitation of
workers in the formal sectors of the economy will only lead
to further social unrest all through the region; CAFTA will
only lead to more migration to the U.S. as more people are
unable to make a living working on the rural areas, and the
jobs perspectives in the cities do not improve. The 20
million who are currently poor, and those that will be
further displaced, will turn to immigration to the U.S. as
the only solution to their economic problems. Just like the
U.S. has seen an increase of immigrants from Mexico after
NAFTA, more central American will turn to migration to the
U.S.
As Legislative Representatives of the region, who represent
a diverse perspective of political views, we respectfully ask
you to vote NO on CAFTA. Some of our countries already
approved the agreement (El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras),
others have not (Costa Rica and Dominican Republic); however,
in all of the region, there has been real opposition to the
agreement with mass protest from all the sectors. And the
opposition keeps growing all through the region because this
treaty threatens to weaken the already vulnerable democratic
institutions that were created during the long conflicts of
the 80s.
Our countries want trade, but not trade agreements like
CAFTA that limit the possibilities for our countries to enact
policies that will truly develop our economies and improve
the lives of our people.
CAFTA is a bad trade deal because it puts the interest of
international corporations ahead of the welfare of the
working poor and the poor in Central America. If CAFTA is
approved, the social instability that CAFTA supporters like
to use as a reason for approving the agreement, will come not
from outside forces, but from the pressures created by the
millions of displaced workers who will fall further into
poverty. It is time to say NO to CAFTA and begin negotiating
a new trade agreement that takes into account the region's
needs for development and real opportunity to all its
citizens.
We respectfully ask you for your support of our people and
Vote NO on CAFTA!
Sincerely,
Rep. Salvador Arias,
National Legislative Assembly, El Salvador.
Rep. Hugo Martinez,
National Legislative Assembly, El Salvador.
Rep. Fernando Gonzalez,
National Legislative Assembly, El Salvador.
Rep. Alba Palacios,
National Legislative Assembly, Nicaragua.
Rep. Orlando Tardencilla,
National Legislative Assembly, Nicaragua.
Rep. Otoniel Fernandez Gonzalez,
National Legislative Assembly, Guatemala.
Rep. Doris Gutierrez,
National Legislative Assembly, Honduras.
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