I got this in an email today from Jim Schollaert jschollaert@amtacdc.org of www.amtacdc.org

CongressDailyPM
June 16, 2005
TRADE


Report: Pacts Mean Little When It Comes To Trade Votes


Lawmakers who are seeking to trade their votes on the Central America Free Trade Agreement for a little extra support or protection for industries in their districts should be forewarned: Such deals often do not pan out, according to a report released today by Public Citizen. The report catalogues promises made to lawmakers by the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, on trade votes from North American Free Trade Agreement to permanent normal trade status for China to the 2002 trade negotiating authority law, and attempts to track whether those promises were kept. According to the report, Democratic and Republican administrations delivered on only 16 out of 92 such deals, which the report breaks down into promises of policy changes and "pork-barrel deals" for projects in member districts.


Examples of broken promises highlighted in the report include a pledge from the Clinton administration to put in place expedited safeguard procedures for tomatoes, helping to secure support for NAFTA from Florida members including House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Clay Shaw, Democratic Rep. Alcee Hastings and a number of others who have since left Congress. The Clinton and George W. Bush administration did not utilize those procedures, and tomato imports have grown by 137 percent since the mid-1990s, the report said.


On textiles and apparel, the report highlights a promise made during consideration of the 2002 trade negotiating authority law to Reps. Robin Hayes and Sue Myrick, both R-N.C., and then-Rep. Cass Ballenger, R-N.C., to hire 72 additional customs inspectors, which the report says was never fulfilled. Hayes is leaning against CAFTA but Myrick this week announced her support. That support is partly based on a pledge from Trade Representative Portman to seek an amendment to CAFTA to help North Carolina producers of pockets and linings, proving that textile members like Myrick "[seem] to have learned nothing from the record of broken deals," the Public Citizen report states. In a May news release, Myrick said she has been assured by Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff that the 72 inspectors are in the process of being hired and that those positions would be filled by 2006.


-- by Martin Vaughan