Prelude: George H W Bush loses the 1992 election and is a lame-duck for 2 1/2 months
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snip:
President Bush signed the NAFTA agreement on December 17, 1992 at a meeting of the Organization of American States. The accord was signed prior to the expiration of the President’s negotiating authority, forcing Congress to either change its procedures or to consider NAFTA under fast track rules—which limits the amount of debate and requires lawmakers to vote up-or-down on the measure without amendments.
103rd Congress: President Clinton reiterated his desire to negotiate side agreements on NAFTA in the areas of safeguards, labor and environmental issues in January. Negotiations with Mexico and Canada began in the spring.
Anti-NAFTA forces—led by organized labor, some environmental activists, former presidential hopeful H. Ross Perot and consumer groups led by Ralph Nader—launched verbal attacks against the trade pact on Capitol Hill early and often in 1993, despite President Clinton’s efforts to allay their concerns. In related action, several House members with close ties to organized labor announced the formation of an “Anti-NAFTA Caucus” early in 1993. In July, more than 100 House and 7 Senate Democrats joined House Majority Leader David Bonior (D-MI-10) in urging President Clinton to postpone action on NAFTA until after Congress had completed work on health-care reform—a strategy that most NAFTA supporters believed would kill the trade pact. The White House responded that both NAFTA and health-care reform would be on the agenda in the fall.
Trade officials from the three NAFTA nations announced August 13 they had reached a deal on side agreements. Lawmakers returning home to their districts in August were barraged by anti-NAFTA sentiment. Many supporters of NAFTA returned to Washington publicly undecided on the pact. Convinced that NAFTA’s passage was contingent upon a strong push by the White House, dozens of House Republicans—led by Minority Leader Newt Gingrich (R-GA-6)—said they would withhold their support until the President demonstrated his commitment to the issue.
That commitment came September 14, 1993, when President Clinton—accompanied by former Presidents Ford, Carter and Bush—issued a strong statement of support for NAFTA.
http://www.nam.org/s_nam/doc1.asp?CID=201740&DID=223558
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Like father like son....(with the help of other lefties) our sovereignty is a goner!