[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 160 (Wednesday, December 14, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13563-S13564]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      BAHRAIN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I oppose this agreement. It is more of 
the same flawed trade model that has undermined the standards that our 
firms operate under and has helped ship millions of jobs overseas. From 
inadequate protections for workers, the environment, and public health 
and safety, to lax rules of origin, this trade agreement continues the 
appalling trade policies of the last decade and more.
  We should be working to strengthen our ties with Bahrain and forge a 
trade agreement that is sustainable and that will enhance the welfare 
of consumers, businesses, and workers in both countries. This agreement 
will not do that. Tragically, the record of this trade model has been 
just the opposite.
  My own State of Wisconsin has been hit especially hard by this trade 
policy. Nor have our trading partners fared well under this flawed 
trade model. Eleven years of NAFTA have lowered living standards in 
Mexico, both for urban workers and in rural areas. As I have noted 
before, Professor Riordan Roett of Johns Hopkins has noted that at 
least 1.5 million Mexican farmers have lost their livelihoods under 
NAFTA.
  And while this agreement with Bahrain may not have the same 
devastating impact that NAFTA has had

[[Page S13564]]

and that CAFTA will have, it is cut from the same cloth as those two 
trade agreements. Certainly neither the United States nor Bahrain is 
likely to benefit when the trade agreement's rules of origin provisions 
invite gaming. As Robert Baugh, executive director of the AFL-CIO, 
testified before the Senate Finance Committee, the provision permits 
multinational corporations to manipulate production and purchasing ``to 
ship goods made primarily in third countries through Bahrain for a 
minimal transformation before entering the U.S. duty free. The rule of 
origin fails to promote production and employment in the U.S. and 
Bahrain, and it grants benefits to third-party countries that have 
provided no reciprocal benefits under the agreement and that are not 
subject to the agreement's minimal labor and environmental standards.''
  Mr. President, Wisconsin has paid a heavy price for our trade policy 
in recent years. Since 2000, Wisconsin has lost nearly 92,000 
manufacturing jobs. NAFTA, the GATT, and Most Favored Nation treatment 
for China have devastated local businesses and punished working 
families, taking away family-supporting jobs, and offering lower paying 
jobs, if any, in return. I regret that this trade agreement promises 
more of the same. Instead of building on this failed model of trade, we 
should scrap it and establish a new model of trade that is fair to 
American businesses, workers, and farmers, as well as the small 
businesses, workers and farmers of our trading partners.

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