[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 106 (Friday, July 29, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1668]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC-CENTRAL AMERICA-UNITED STATES FREE TRADE AGREEMENT 
                           IMPLEMENTATION ACT

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                               speech of

                          HON. ROSA L. DeLAURO

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 27, 2005

  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, today Congress draws a line in the sand and 
says it has had enough of trade agreements that are unfair to America 
and harmful to our reputation across the world. Today we say enough 
with agreements that let our competitors reverse engineer our products, 
manipulate their currency and steal our intellectual property. Enough 
with agreements that ship good paying American jobs to regions of the 
world where wages are but a fraction of ours--where environmental and 
labor standards put already vulnerable families here and abroad at 
greater risk.
  It has been said that this debate is about globalization. But by 
rejecting CAFTA, we do not reject globalization, Mr. Speaker. Rather, 
we set a new path for America--one that embraces globalization's 
capacity to raise living standards here and across the world, to strike 
at the heart of poverty, and expand markets that will serve as the 
foundation of the 21st Century economy.
  Those are America's values, Mr. Speaker, and they ought to be central 
to this bill. But if these last four years have taught us anything, it 
is that we do not spread our values by denying our trade partners' 
citizens the right to affordable generic drugs for diseases like HIV 
and malaria--this pact prevents developing countries from accessing 
lower priced generic drugs by granting drug companies new and extended 
patent protection and additional shelter from price competition. We do 
not spread American values by exploiting cheap labor, deepening income 
inequality in the developing world. Indeed, CAFTA's single enforceable 
workers' rights provision requires only that countries enforce their 
own labor laws--laws that fail to meet international standards.
  Yet globalization marches on, and America stands idly by, missing one 
opportunity after another to shape globalization's rules to our benefit 
and the world's. Already 55,500 workers from my state's once-thriving 
manufacturing base have been left behind, their jobs shipped overseas. 
2.8 million more have been sent abroad nationally, decimating our 
industrial capacity and leaving us with a $617 billion trade deficit. 
No one expects this pact to bring these jobs back--the combined 
purchasing power of the CAFTA is no more than that of my hometown of 
New Haven, Connecticut. But by including loopholes like one which could 
allow massive quantities of Chinese yarn, fabric and other products to 
displace U.S. products, it is hard to imagine this deal will make 
American companies and workers as competitive in this century's global 
marketplace as they were in the last. And that must be our goal.
  This is a moment for unity, Mr. Speaker. By rejecting CAFTA, the 
Congress can say with one voice that how America responds to 
globalization is too important for the partisanship and divisiveness 
that have brought us to this point. Only then can we send negotiators 
back to the table with a clear mission and singular moral purpose. That 
is what this debate is about, and that is why I urge my colleagues to 
reject this bill.

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