[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16718]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       FREE TRADE FLOW WITH CAFTA

  (Ms. HART asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. HART. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the U.S.-Dominican 
Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement.
  Upon its implementation DR-CAFTA will allow goods and services to be 
traded among these countries without tariffs or other trade barriers. 
Currently, the United States has significant barriers to those 
countries. Those countries do not have significant barriers into the 
United States.
  The benefits of DR-CAFTA go well beyond the free movement of goods. 
This agreement will solidify the political enlightenment that has taken 
place over the past decade in Central America and the Dominican 
Republic. In the not so distant past communists and generals ruled the 
DR-CAFTA countries. Today freedom and democracy rule these lands.
  DR-CAFTA will continue to enhance these fragile democracies by 
committing them to free and open economies and create new opportunities 
for their economies and workers. The agreement will lead to stability 
and propel these countries forward, rather than allow them to backslide 
into dangerous political and economic policies that have hindered other 
countries in Latin America.
  Politically and economically stable countries, especially those in 
our hemisphere, are vital to our national security here in the United 
States, and I urge my colleagues to support this very important 
agreement.

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