[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 17757-17758]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                 CAFTA

  (Ms. WOOLSEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, America must build relationships with our

[[Page 17758]]

neighbors, relationships that benefit both our future and theirs. But 
CAFTA is one more example of the White House agenda that does neither. 
It benefits multinational corporations while it devalues workers and 
communities, putting corporations on equal footing with democratically 
elected governments. What is this about?
  Trade agreements should reflect our national values and our 
character. CAFTA fails on both measures. Labor and environmental 
standards must be an integral part of any trade and negotiation, and 
CAFTA fails. By failing to protect minimum labor rights, including 
protection for female workers against discrimination, and failing to 
enforce environmental standards, CAFTA not only benefits the 
multinational corporations against our communities, our families, and 
our environment, but it also works against our trading partners. We 
know that this is wrong.
  We must get CAFTA back on track. We must scrap this version, and we 
must start over. Trade agreements that promise jobs in the U.S. as well 
as advancing the economies of our neighbors, that is how we must go. 
Vote against this dog today.

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