Thread: Carolinas aren't buying CAFTA

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/11813047.htm

Posted on Sat, Jun. 04, 2005

Carolinas aren't buying CAFTA

White House lobbying to persuade lawmakers to back free-trade pact

TIM FUNK

Observer Washington Bureau

Carolinas aren't buying CAFTA White House lobbying to persuade lawmakers to back free-trade pact The Observer asked members of the N.C. and S.C. delegations where they stood right now on CAFTA.

Tim Funk

WASHINGTON -- The White House and other supporters of the Central America Free Trade Agreement have recently intensified their lobbying of Carolinas senators and representatives -- but an Observer survey shows all the pressure hasn't paid off.

Of the 23 members of Congress from North Carolina and South Carolina, only two said they planned to vote "yes" on CAFTA: Sens. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., and Jim DeMint, R-S.C.

Why so little support in these President Bush-friendly states?

"CAFTA rhymes with NAFTA," says Lloyd Wood, a spokesman for a textile industry group opposed to the free trade agreement, "and that brings back bad memories."

Specifically, memories of hundreds of thousands of jobs lost in the Carolinas over the past 11 years -- the life span of NAFTA, a free trade agreement with Mexico and Canada that's blamed, rightly or wrongly, for the exodus of many U.S. manufacturing jobs.

With Congress expected to begin taking up CAFTA this month, the Carolinas' congressional delegations have become battlegrounds in the search for votes:

• Last week, Rep. Robin Hayes, R-N.C., got a visit from Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, a leading White House salesman who -- the week before -- had flown to Greenville, S.C., to pitch CAFTA.

• Ambassadors from five of the six Latin American countries that are party to the agreement recently showed up at the office of Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C.

• And a dozen corporate lobbyists, all of them African American and all pro-CAFTA, have reportedly turned their attentions to members of the Congressional Black Caucus -- headed by Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C.

But, according to the Observer survey, the White House will have to try even harder if it hopes to pick up votes for CAFTA among members of Congress from the Carolinas.

Six members said they planned to vote "no," including Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C.

Ten others said they were "leaning no," including Hayes, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C.

None said they were "leaning yes."

Number of "undecideds"?

Five, including both Charlotte-based House members, Watt and Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C.

If approved, CAFTA would give U.S. companies greater access to markets by ending import taxes -- called duties -- on U.S. goods ranging from construction equipment to cars and jeans. The pact would also eliminate the few remaining U.S. duties on exports from the six other countries that are party to the agreement: Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Those against CAFTA charge that it would cause more jobs to leave the Carolinas for Central America, where the cost of doing business would be so much less.

Since NAFTA became law in 1994, they say, the Carolinas have lost a total of 230,000 textile and apparel jobs.

In recent years, many Democrats and Republicans running for Congress in the two states have pledged to voters, textile groups and others that they'd save U.S. jobs by voting against CAFTA -- finalized, pending congressional approval, a year ago -- and other free-trade agreements.

Now that the day of reckoning has almost arrived -- House and Senate committees could start working on CAFTA the week of June 13 -- many of those elected say they plan to stick by their campaign promise.

Still, as lopsided as the numbers look right now, things could change in coming days as the lobbying further intensifies and the roll-call votes get closer.

"It's a fluid situation," says Hayes, a normally strong Bush supporter who hasn't heard anything -- yet -- that that would make him support the president on CAFTA. "It's all planning and organizational work until the sound goes off telling you it's time to go over and vote."

In their search for support, the Bush administration is trying to give textile-state senators and House members the political cover they'd need if they switched over to the pro-CAFTA side.

A promise to get tougher with China over textile quotas or currency manipulation could possibly pry loose a few votes. And Dole and DeMint recently announced that U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman had agreed to seek changes in CAFTA that would protect as much as $100 million in U.S. sales of pocket fabric.

The week after Portman promised to try to change the treaty -- all seven countries would have to agree -- the National Council of Textile Organizations endorsed CAFTA.

But other textile industry groups continue to strongly oppose it, including the American Manufacturers Trade Action Coalition, which represents 150 textile and apparel companies.

Charlotte's Myrick has said she'll vote the way textile companies in her district want. But when the textile community is divided?

She's still undecided, but the betting among congressional and textile sources is that she'll end up voting "yes" -- as she has for virtually every free-trade agreement since coming to Washington in 1995.

Democrat Watt has the opposite record: He has voted "no" on virtually every free-trade agreement since he came to Congress in 1993. He opposed NAFTA even after getting pro-NAFTA phone calls from President Clinton and former Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt, Watt's longtime friend and political associate.

But Watt is still undecided about CAFTA.

"You could make a fairly persuasive argument -- and I'm not making (it); I'm still listening ... -- that the only way you're going to be able to protect textiles in this hemisphere against Chinese textiles is to allow a stronger relationship to develop within the hemisphere," he says.

Those making that argument, Watt says, say the United States can continue to make the yarn, ship it to Central America for sewing, then distribute the finished product.

Watt also wants to study what effect CAFTA would have on jobs at the Dell computer plant in the Triad and the FedEx distribution center at the Greensboro airport -- companies that weren't "players" in North Carolina during the NAFTA debate, Watt says, but are now.

Some Carolinians in Congress have taken leading roles in the battle over CAFTA.

Two Republicans -- Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina and Sen. Graham of South Carolina -- have helped start a House and Senate caucus against CAFTA. Both recently held news conferences charging that its approval would cost jobs and give China another locale from which to flood the U.S. market.

On the other side: Republican DeMint, South Carolina's other U.S. senator. A longtime free-trader, he has argued -- in guest newspaper columns and press interviews -- that CAFTA would create jobs by dramatically lowering tariffs for U.S. produce and products.

Where They Stand

The Observer asked members of the N.C. and S.C. delegations where they stood right now on CAFTA. PLANNING TO VOTE YES:

Sen. Elizabeth Dole, Republican of Salisbury

Sen. Jim DeMint, Republican of Greenville, S.C.

LEANING YES:

None

PLANNING TO VOTE NO:

Sen. Lindsey Graham, Republican of Seneca, S.C.

Rep. John Spratt, Democrat of York, S.C.

Rep. Walter Jones, Republican of Farmville

Rep. Mike McIntyre, Democrat of Lumberton

Rep. Charles Taylor, Republican of Brevard

Rep. Joe Wilson, Republican of Springdale, S.C.

LEANING NO:

Sen. Richard Burr, Republican of Winston-Salem

Rep. Robin Hayes, Republican of Concord

Rep. Patrick McHenry, Republican of Cherryville

Rep. Virginia Foxx, Republican of Banner Elk

Rep. Howard Coble, Republican of Greensboro

Rep. David Price, Democrat of Chapel Hill

Rep. G.K. Butterfield, Democrat of Wilson

Rep. Brad Miller, Democrat of Raleigh

Rep. Jim Clyburn, Democrat of Columbia, S.C.

Rep. Gresham Barrett, Republican of Westminster, S.C.

UNDECIDED:

Rep. Sue Myrick, Republican of Charlotte

Rep. Mel Watt, Democrat of Charlotte

Rep. Bob Etheridge, Democrat of Lillington

Rep. Henry Brown, Republican of Hanahan, S.C.

Rep. Bob Inglis, Republican of Travelers Rest, S.C.

Senator Dole needs to hear from us.

W

Yes she does W. As do those who are yet undecided. This is expected to be voted on soon. I have sent her emails and called her several times. She has never responded.