http://southwestfarmpress.com/news/0506 ... hts-CAFTA/

Senate weighs DR-CAFTA pros, cons

Jun 20, 2005 9:56 AM
By Forrest Laws

A spokesman for the American Sugar Alliance told the Senate Ag Committee hearing that DR-CAFTA would send efficient U.S. producers to the “back of the line� for access to the U.S. market.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Saxby Chambliss continues to have reservations about the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement, including concerns that it could “seriously impair� the operations of the U.S. sugar program.
Primedia Business - Southwest Farm Press, Click Here!

In comments at a committee hearing, Chambliss did not speak directly against DR-CAFTA, which was concluded with five Central American countries in December 2003. (The Dominican Republic joined in March 2004.)

But the Georgia Republican described the upcoming vote on the agreement, expected later this summer, as “perhaps one of the most difficult votes in the 109th Congress,� one that would have repercussions for domestic industries and farmers that cannot be predicted.

“One of my major concerns rests on the fact that the agriculture provisions, specifically those concerning sugar in this instance, can and likely will seriously impair the operations of the sugar program as passed in the 2002 farm bill.�

Previously, Chambliss said he would vote against the agreement when it came to the floor. Opposition from Republican leaders like Chambliss and key House members have caused delays in bringing the agreement to a vote, Washington analysts say.

The day after the Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on June 7, Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley told Congress Daily he thought he might have the votes to pass DR-CAFTA.

“Bringing it to a vote is about the only way I know to find out if you have the votes from some people you can’t get nailed down,� said Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and a leading proponent of DR-CAFTA.

A spokesman for the American Sugar Alliance told the Senate Ag Committee hearing that DR-CAFTA would send efficient U.S. producers to the “back of the line� for access to the U.S. market.

“The United States is the only sugar-producing country that is trading away its domestic market through trade agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA,� said Jack Roney, a Sugar Alliance economist. “Nearly 200 trade agreements have been negotiated, but only the United States has ever included sugar import mandates in such agreements.�

Roney said DR-CAFTA is a “fully genuine, life-or-death issue� for U.S. sugar producers. “It really is a shame that other countries protect their sugar farmers, while we seem determined to trade ours away,� he noted. “These trade agreements are like death by 1,000 cuts to America’s sugar farmers.�

American Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman countered that any additional sugar imports from the DR-CAFTA countries â€â€