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.
What would the effect have been on domestic prices?
The greatest export of the Thid World is deflation.
You mean you're not lining up behind his stiring oratory??
The President has never backed off his promise about judges, and IMO, that's the most significant thing he can do for conservatism.
(And he has never backed off lowering taxes........which Reagan did).
They're both strong on the military, and had followed despicable presidents in that area...
Only history will tell, but I will stand by my position that Bush will do more in the long run for conservatism than Reagan.
And now, I'm leaving this conversation for a good conservative night's sleep.... :)
The unemployment rate will be over 10% between now and 2010, followed by nearly full employment when being without a job is outlawed.
Yup, to the point where our economy is growing at 3%+ and unemployment is 5%. They screwed us so bad they should be booming, right? What's their GDP growing at? What's their unemployment? Better than ours? Better than ours since 1994? I don't think so, but if you can prove they are.......
And which industries have they destabilized?
That's marginally possible (though keep in mind that we import quite a bit of oil from Mexico), but is it desirable?
Are trade deficits always a problem? Are trade deficits always the *biggest* economic problem?
Or do trade deficits merely make good boogeymen...easy to demagogue?
I understand that your main issue is border security, but that does not preclude free trade with Mexico, Central and South America.
That's patently incorrect. Show your source for such outlandish comments.
Isn't the President supposed to lead?? Naaah, he's the problem
While you are sitting at the Jersey shore, I am sitting
15 miles north of the largest border crossing in the
world. Though there are tons of problems, This is not
something Bush can do by himself and since this has
been going on long before he became prez this same
hate should have been directed at Clinton since he could
have done something by himself.
And can I bookmark this and bring it up to you when your dire prediction doesn't happen?
Naw.
Give me liberty or give me a stinger.
I like Patton's attitude about that. "Let the other poor ba$tard die for his country."
No shorter term predictions? Come on, a huge disaster like CAFTA should boost our unemployment rate almost immediately.
How about in the next year or two? I don't want to have to wait 5 years before laughing you off of FR.
I've researched this in good faith and can't find anything to support your claim. The Codex standards will not nullify existing law as some people claim.
The health food store trade association says CAFTA will have no effect on our access to supplements. Don't you think they, of all people, would be screaming if there was a threat here?
http://www.nnfa.org/codex/news.htm#senatecafta
The GOP is the free trade party, the Dems the protectionist party. The Dems protect a lot: incompetent teachers, predatory trial lawyers, cosseted public employees and their unions with ludicrous taxpayer funded pension plans (unions only have traction these days in monopolistic or oligopolistic industres, the rest are dying (and government and regulated utilities are monopoly central by definition), affirmative action spoils seakers, and business who can't compete, in short, sort of Luddite central in an nutshell. Yes it is a generalization, but a fair one. That is how I see it.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Improved trade by *both* nations means, by definition, greater prosperity. Even you admit that economic activity between both nations is up after NAFTA. Think about that fact.
" and in the process destablized important American industries." - Nachum
You'll have a difficult time supporting that claim with any evidence.
China and Mexico have *LOST* 22 million manufacturing jobs over the past half decade...The U.S. has only lost 2 million.
China and Mexico Lost 22 Million Manufacturing Jobs Overall
"Though there are tons of problems, This is not
something Bush can do by himself"
Bush could do something by himself. He hasn't tried and he's resisted everyone who has. Bush is a complete failure when it comes to border security. I know most other politicians are as well, but Bush is the one with the most power to fix this the problem right now.
Our border is *better* today than back in 2000.
I just spent 9 days along the U.S. - Mexico border, including 2 days around Playa de Tijuana and Tijuana itself. Unlike what you'd see 5 years ago, you don't see hordes of illegals running and swimming across the border. You *do* see U.S. border patrols, U.S. Coast Guard ship patrols, helicopter patrols, and a big steel fence that GWB built after 9/11.
Now granted, this increased border security probably isn't perfect, but it irritates me that people are claiming that we've "done nothing" or that our borders are still "wide open" and other such nonsense.
Yes, there are remote desert areas where environmental groups have successfully sued the Bush Administration in order to slow the construction of the steel fence. Yes, those remote areas *are* passable on foot (but you'd better bring a bunch of water and be prepared to hike for miles) for now. So clearly more needs to be done.
But we also have to give credit where it is due, and there has been substantial progress on border security in the last 3 years, contrary to the people who keep writing articles based on pre-9/11 information.
Once easy, Illegal Immigration Now Risky:President Bush Builds 12 ft Tall Steel Fence Along Mexican Border From The Pacific Into Arizona, Plus Around Major Populated Areas In Arizona and Texas
You must work for the govt. or hire illegals.
Great post. The amount of political power wielded by Gubmint employees is growing like wildfire.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.