[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 106 (Friday, July 29, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1689]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




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

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. LINCOLN DAVIS

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 27, 2005

  Mr. DAVIS of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I am a Conservative Democrat 
representing a rural area of Tennessee, and I rise today in opposition 
to the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement.
  Mr. Speaker, I will support any trade agreement that results in 
American job growth and allows our manufacturers and farmers to export 
their products to new, fair, and competitive markets in other 
countries. In fact, I have supported previous trade agreements with 
Chile, Singapore, Australia, and Morocco. But my constituents and I are 
fearful of this particular agreement.
  Our fear is that the only export we will see in this country because 
of CAFTA is American jobs. This fear is based on our real life 
experience with a similar agreement that sounds much like this one. 
That agreement, of course, was NAFTA. My congressional district has 
been devastated by the loss of jobs since NAFTA's passage.
  You know, I've been told a lot of different things by a lot of 
different folks about why I should support this agreement. One argument 
was that supporting CAFTA is the Christian thing to do. Well, I am a 
devout Christian, and I for one do not think exploiting cheap labor for 
corporate profits is particularly Christian. So, I have a message for 
corporate America: the real Christian thing for you to do is provide 
wages to your new Central American employees that are equivalent to 
wages of the employees in my district who will lose their jobs as a 
result of this Central American Free Trade Agreement.
  I strongly urge all my colleagues who truly care about the American 
working man and woman to reject this trade agreement, and let's work on 
creating new jobs in this country instead of outsourcing the ones we 
currently have.

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