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.
LOL
It's been a very slow and boring week at work.
WHERE WERE YOU, 10,20,30,40,50 YEARS AGO, WHEN THE SAME PROBLEMS EXISTED?
I am NOT an "open border idiot" and if anyone here is an idiot, it is you.
I believe in the rule of law and am against the breaking of any law.
But the only way you and your ilk seem to be able to try to make a point, is by calling other people names and claiming that they are something they are not. If others aren't foaming at the mouth and screaming your one note, then, or course, they must, must, must be for open borders, right? WRONG!
There isn't going to be high unemployment due to CAFTA and if Hillary is elected president, it will be because people such as YOU help her win, by either not voting or voting third party.
A DEPRESSION is an economic term. What you just described is something something else. And I doubt that you were clinically depressed during the Clinton presidency, because you love being miserable and want everyone else to be as well.
You don't want a president, you want a benevolent DICTATOR; one who fulfills your every whim and desire.
I worked for Wal-Mart. I got sick 4 months after I went to work. I was in hospital for 9 days. Walmart paid for it.
Then, my husband died. Wal-Mart Insurance paid me $25,000.
I love Wal-Mart.
He probably means paleoconservatives.
Aaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, don't confuse them with the FACTS! Don't you know, that they don't ever care about about facts? :-)
So you now believe in legalizing drugs and destroying our culture from within?
Who do you think is pocketing the money that is saved when a factory moves accross the border? Who pockets the money when a job is outsourced? How did Mexico lose a million jobs over the last 10 years? Did anyone make a profit from it? Who's military is financed when we buy cheap imported products?
It is indeed a puzzle.
Your post 513-- thanks. I didn't know that.
Using a dash doesn't fool anyone. Knock it off.
I am all for CAFTA-DR, Just as long as the countries included in CAFTA-DR do not bring their trash up to the U.S.A
So you're saying Marx didn't support Free Trade?
Wait to find out all the facts before saying that I'm dishonest. I would hope that you'd have the decency to apologize for impugning my character.
Ding ding ding! :-)
So I'll ask you again, WHY ARE YOU SO ENAMORED WITH SUGAR SUBSIDIES, WHICH KEEP OUR PRICES HIGH AND DO NOT GO TO THE EMPLOYEES OF OUR SUGAR COMPANIES?
Are you also in favor of farm subsidies, which go to the likes of Sam Donaldson, who isn't really a farmer?
It's only a "puzzle" to you, because you don't understand the topic at all.
www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/free-trade/
and
www.cooperativeindividualism.org/marx_freetrade.html
Not an intelligible query. Try again.
What does Buchanan have to do with it?
Follow the link provided for you (go back and re-read #279; carefully, this time). It should take you less time to read than it took me to provide. You're welcome, incidentally.
You placed your smarmy little attempt at guilt-by-association in direct response to my previous post, filled with nothing but Reagan quotes. If this is your attempt at aping the wide-eyed ingenue: it's a spectacularly inept one. If you placed it there without meaning it as commentary, on the other hand: then you're simply addled. Neither one of these is my problem, nor merit any "apology" (hah!) from me.
Wait for a bus, while you're at it; it'll get there first, I assure you.
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