[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 4638-4639]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              UNITED STATES-COLOMBIA FREE TRADE AGREEMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Weller) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WELLER of Illinois. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I join my colleague, 
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, in urging the Speaker of the House to 
bring to this floor the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement, an 
agreement that's good for Illinois farmers, good for Illinois workers, 
and good for Illinois manufacturers.
  Let me begin by asking some important questions. What nation in Latin 
America is the most longstanding democracy? The Republic of Colombia. 
What nation in Latin America is the United States' most reliable and 
dependable partner against narcotics and against terrorism? The 
Republic of Colombia. What nation today has the most popular elected 
official year after year after year in their own country? That is 
President Uribe of Colombia. The U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement is 
a good agreement for my State of Illinois. We are a big winner, as is 
the United States.
  In 2006, Illinois exported $214 million in exports to Colombia, but 
that's just the beginning. Why? Because Illinois exports, U.S. exports 
to Colombia are taxed by tariffs. But their exports to the United 
States are not taxed by tariffs. So right now trade is a one-way 
street. We want to make it a two-way street.
  As a result of this trade agreement, 80 percent of U.S. exports that 
are currently taxed will be duty-free immediately. And as we know, our 
exports to other countries grow 50 percent faster with countries we 
have trade agreements with. So it's a win-win-win for American workers, 
American farmers, and American manufacturers. We want to be competitive 
with Asia.
  We know Colombia is a reliable partner, our most important ally. We 
know Colombia is a longstanding democracy. We also know that President 
Uribe is popular. He was elected to stem the violence in Colombia. He 
was elected to

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push the FARC, the leftist narcotrafficking terrorist organization, out 
of the country. And he's made tremendous progress. And today because of 
his success in expanding government presence throughout the country, 
bringing stability and order and safety and security to Colombia, his 
approval rating in his own country year after year has been over 80 
percent. Compare that to this Congress which has a 15 percent approval 
rating.
  Now there are those who oppose this trade agreement and they are the 
same people who have opposed every trade agreement. They say not enough 
is done for labor. When the Peru and Colombia trade agreements were 
finalized, my Democratic friends said we needed to do more regarding 
labor rights. Both Peru and Colombia complied. And, of course, Peru has 
been ratified, but Colombia has not. Now they say that there's too much 
labor violence in Colombia. Well, let's look at the facts. Seventy-one 
percent of Colombians say they are more secure under President Uribe. 
Seventy-three percent of Colombians say Uribe respects human rights. 
Homicides are down 40 percent. Kidnappings are down 76 percent. In 
fact, the murder rate in Colombia today is lower than Washington, D.C., 
lower than Baltimore.
  Here are the facts on labor violence: The last 2 years, President 
Uribe has hired 418 new prosecutors; 545 new investigators; created 
over 2,166 new posts overall in the Prosecutor General's office; and 
increased funding for prosecution of those who commit violent acts by 
75 percent.
  Carlos Rodriguez, president of the United Workers Confederation, said 
about these new posts: ``Never in the history of Colombia have we 
achieved something so important.'' Now when it comes particularly to 
labor leaders, President Uribe has allocated almost $39 million to 
providing bodyguards for protection for labor union leaders. One 
thousand five hundred union leaders and activists provided protection, 
the second largest protected group in the nation of Colombia. And it's 
been successful. In fact, no labor leader under this protection has 
lost his life or experienced violence.
  As the Washington Post noted yesterday, the murder rate for labor 
activists is lower than the national rate for the rest of the country. 
So President Uribe has made tremendous progress in reducing violence. 
For those who point to labor activists being the subject of labor 
violence, he's made even greater success in reducing violence.
  I would also note that the International Labor Organization has 
removed Colombia from its labor watch list and Colombia has agreed to 
permanent International Labor Organization presence in Colombia. 
Perhaps most telling, 14 Colombian labor union leaders have personally 
given their support to the Trade Promotion Agreement and they represent 
79,000 organized workers. We continue to hear opposition with no 
explanation.
  The bottom line is this is a good trade agreement. Colombia is our 
best ally. If you care about the future of Latin America, if you care 
about democracy, if you care about security, we need to bring the U.S.-
Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement to this floor for a vote.

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