[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 17005]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  THE COST OF CAFTA TO U.S. TAXPAYERS

  (Mr. BROWN of Ohio asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, the Central American Free Trade 
Agreement would cost U.S. taxpayers $500 million over the next 10 
years, according to estimates released this week by the nonpartisan 
Congressional Budget Office. The CBO, the arm of Congress that 
estimates the cost of legislation, also found that revenues to the U.S. 
Treasury would fall by $4.4 billion over the same 10-year period, $440 
million a year.
  CAFTA will not just drive up a trade deficit that has gone from $38 
billion to $618 billion in a dozen years; it will not just cause more 
job loss, we have lost 3 million manufacturing jobs in this country in 
the last 5 years; it is also going to cost taxpayers hundreds of 
millions of dollars. One more big reason to vote no on the Central 
American Free Trade Agreement.

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