Posted on 07/27/2005 9:14:44 PM PDT by RWR8189
WASHINGTON - The House narrowly approved the Central American Free Trade Agreement early Thursday, a personal triumph for President Bush, who campaigned aggressively for the accord he said would foster prosperity and democracy in the hemisphere.
The 217-215 vote just after midnight adds six Latin American countries to the growing lists of nations with free trade agreements with the United States and averts what could have been a major political embarrassment for the Bush administration.
It was an uphill effort to win a majority, with Bush traveling to Capitol Hill earlier in the day to appeal to wavering Republicans to support a deal he said was critical to U.S. national security.
Lobbying continued right up to the vote, with Vice President Dick Cheney, U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman (news, bio, voting record) and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez tracking undecided lawmakers.
The United States signed the accord, known as CAFTA, a year ago with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, and the Senate approved it last month. It now goes to the president for his signature.
To capture a majority, supporters had to overcome what some have called free trade fatigue, a growing sentiment that free trade deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada have contributed to a loss of well-paying American jobs and the soaring trade deficit.
Democrats, who were overwhelmingly against CAFTA, also argued that its labor rights provisions were weak and would result in exploitation of workers in Central America.
But supporters pointed out that CAFTA would over time eliminate tariffs and other trade barriers that impede U.S. sales to the region, correcting the current situation in which 80 percent of Central American goods enter the United States duty-free but Americans must pay heavy tariffs.
The agreement would also strengthen intellectual property protections and make it easier for Americans to invest in the region.
"This is a test of American leadership in a changing world," said Rep. Kevin Brady (news, bio, voting record), R-Texas, a leading proponent of the agreement. "We cannot claim to be fighting for American jobs and yet turn our backs on 44 million new customers in Central America.
Support your argument. Show me facts.
Are there fewer American jobs today than back when NAFTA was first ratified in 1993?
Are American salaries lower today than in 1993?
Now, with those answers in hand, does NAFTA look better or worse than back before you knew that data?
And the freer the people the greater the wealth.
Hmmm...(imagining the painting :-)
Or do you suffer from delusions, and need medication?
If this is a Depression, forget prosperity! I LOVE this stuff!
At least you recalled the 'painting' -- you have mail.
I need to call this one a night.
I know. Myself and my family are practically living in Hooverville, with my earnings having doubled last year and everyone else in my family gainfully employed. Time to join the breadline I tell ya!
Wow, sounds scary. So, let's hear your prediction. What will the unemployment rate be 1 year from today? 2 years from today? 3 years? 5 years? 10 years?
You seem to know so much, so lay it out for all to see. So we can laugh at you, when you're proven wrong.
Stop. Now I feel violated :-D
That's the dumbest thing I ever heard. Can you tell me how you know those jobs were created by NAFTA? No? I thought so.
Try actually reading CAFTA. No jackbooted thugs. Just Bayer and Merck selling the "safe", FDA-approved versions to you at 10 times the price you pay now. But go ahead and laugh it up. I'm sure you don't use vitamins or supplements, right?
One vote, twenty votes, it don't matter. The fix was in. A done deal. It was going to pass regardless of what Joe and Jane American want.
I'm not sure where you got the number 800 from (an individual agreement, not the whole thing?).
But from a previous link, the whole shebang was like 25,000 pages.
As for your question, I've gotten more answers then I can count.
Without getting too far into tin foil, do you think that One World Government types like seeing their World Trade Centers getting knocked down by passenger jets, subway trains blown up by suicide bombers, and anthrax mailed to their elite mailboxes?
This is horrible :(
Bush vote in 2004 was such a waste!
Free to force people off their land. Free to jump the borders. Free to foist the liabilities on taxpayers.
Such are not free markets.
I said created since NAFTA, not created by NAFTA. Now that we cleared that up, where are the disastrous side effects of NAFTA? It's been more than 10 years. We should be in a Great Depression or something, right?
I've never seen anything this horrible before.
(How much you want to bet these people aren't old enough to remember Jimmy Carter's 'malaise'??.......Half the posts here are pure insanity!)
Yeah, ping me when the prices go up 10 times. Snicker.
As far as I'm aware, Ohio's not yet abutting the Mexican border, but who can tell these days? ;-)
OWF -- this is about control and sovereignty -- and surrendering it to NWO Internationalists.
We've already surrendered our border -- OR, do you disagree?
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