Thread: CAFTA FIGHT AND REPORTING DEADLINE

I CANNOT believe that you allowed yourself to be bought by the White House on the CAFTA bill. I am so disappointed in you. I really believed that we finally had a Senator who was going to stand up and vote for our state and not bow to every wish from the White House. I could tell by your speech last night--at least the part I listened to before I got so sick that I changed the channel--that I was wrong, wrong, wrong.

I feel like you have done just like the ones who went before you and sold out your state which is still REELING from WTO and NAFTA. How could you DO this? You have betrayed the people who put you in office and it will come back to haunt you in the next election.

I certainly hope you don't buy into the White House amnesty plan and find the courage to stand up to the pressure from the White House--on ALL issues.

North Carolina will never recover from the sellout to all of these "FREE" trade agreements. It seems that it's more important to "help" these other countries than it is to help the people who elected you. No poll would show that North Carolinians wanted CAFTA and you are, after all, there to represent your constituents--NOT George Bush.

I didn't know how to put this in the same message as the copy of what I wrote to Senator Burr about his betrayal. The above message is what I wrote to him.

Yes it was approved in the Senate

It still has to be approved in the House, so we need to fight as hard as we can. I thought numbersusa was helping with the fight, but I couldnt find anything on their web site about it.

Senate Vote on CAFTA Sends Trade Deal to Showdown in House

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBAZ3S1MAE.html

By Jim Abrams Associated Press Writer
Published: Jul 1, 2005

WASHINGTON (AP) - Fresh off a victory in the Senate, the Bush administration turned to the House in the drive to conclude a free trade agreement it says will promote democracy in Central America while opening new markets to American businesses.

The House vote, expected in July, on the Central America Free Trade Agreement is certain to be close, but supporters expressed new confidence Thursday after a 54-45 vote in the Senate.

The Senate win "was a huge momentum builder," U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman said, noting that only a few weeks ago analysts were saying the agreement was in deep trouble.

Since then, the Bush administration has turned up the heat, with President Bush personally lobbying lawmakers and his trade officials dangling concessions on labor rights and sugar, the agreement's two most contentious issues.

Ten Democrats joined 43 Republicans and one independent to vote in favor of the agreement.

In a statement following the vote, Bush said the agreement would be "good for American workers, good for our farmers and good for small businesses" and "help increase sales abroad and job creation at home.

"The agreement is also a strong boost for young democracies in our own hemisphere, whose success is important for America's national security and for reducing illegal immigration," the president said.

CAFTA would further open a market of 44 million people by eliminating trade barriers to U.S. manufactured and farm goods, protecting trademarks and other intellectual property and establishing legal frameworks for U.S. investment. Last year the region purchased about $15 billion worth of U.S. goods.

The administration says it is also an indispensable step toward far broader free trade agreements with other Western Hemisphere nations and under the auspices of the World Trade Organization.

In the House, supporters will go up against a strong majority of Democrats, who argue that inadequate worker rights provisions in the agreement will lead to labor abuses, lawmakers from sugar beet and sugar cane-growing areas, and others who link free trade to America's soaring trade deficits.

For people living in poverty, trade can lead to a better way of life, said Rep. Ben Cardin, D-Md., a Democratic leader on trade issues. "But trade without basic labor standards will not do that."

But CAFTA "is more than just a trade agreement," House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., said. "It is also a commitment by the United States to stand with nations seeking open markets for its people in the pursuit of freedom and a strengthened democratic process."

Thomas' panel on Thursday endorsed the agreement on a 25-16 vote.

The United States signed CAFTA a year ago with the five Central American countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua and the Caribbean nation, the Dominican Republic.

It won't go into effect until approved by Congress, and from the start that has been a far more difficult task than the bilateral agreements the administration has concluded with Singapore, Chile, Australia and Morocco.

The Hispanic business community has supported it but the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Hispanic human rights groups are against it. Some textile groups oppose it, while others say it would allow U.S. fabric makers and Central American manufacturers to team up to deflect the onslaught of Chinese competitors.

Representatives of the sugar industry have been adamantly opposed, saying it would open the way for other countries to seek a larger share of the U.S. market. But some lawmakers from beet and cane states decided to back CAFTA after Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns proposed steps that, at least for the short term, would protect the industry.

Florida's two senators, Republican Mel Martinez and Democrat Bill Nelson, both came out for the agreement despite the importance of sugar to their state. Nelson said Florida is the U.S.' largest exporter to the CAFTA region, and the agreement could substantially increase those sales.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said she had opposed another controversial pact, the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada a decade ago, but was backing CAFTA because the Central American countries, trying to emerge from years of civil war and political strife, deserved the chance for greater prosperity.

Denying them the agreement, she said, "is certainly not the way to reward them for advances made in the areas of democracy, human rights and the rule of law."

---

On the Net:

The bill, S. 1307, may be found at http://thomas.loc.gov

U.S. Trade Representative: http://www.ustr.gov

AP-ES-07-01-05 0230EDT

I will be calling non stop both Democrats and Republicans in the House to make sure that this does not go through.

I already sent my email to Mr. Burr and told him that he will be missed after the next election.

Good for you!! I have also just emailed Congressman Coble and will paste on the site here.

NumbersUSA WAS fighting this because I sent a fax from their site a few days ago. Maybe they've already taken it off. Did you click on "Fax Center"???

Following is my email to Congressman Coble.

I am BEGGING you not to change your position on voting AGAINST CAFTA. Senators Dole and Burr have already sold out North Carolina and who knows what price has been paid because of their sellout. Senator Burr had SAID that he didn't THINK he would support it but I guess, when the White House finished with him, he changed his mind.

I pray you won't let me--AND North Carolina--down by letting the administration influence your position against CAFTA. I have been praising you to the high heavens in my discussion group for ALIPAC--Americans for LEGAL Immigration. I have told all of my fellow members that you were the ONE PERSON up there that we could count on to vote his conscience and NOT some special interest or certainly not the White House position.

You have earned my deepest respect over the years for being a man of your word. The two Senators from North Carolina are nothing but Bush sycophants. I knew that about Senator Dole already based on some past experiences with her but I honestly thought that we could trust Senator Burr. Both of these Senators are going to pay at the polls for their betrayal of North Carolina.

Sincerely,

I have been faxing my letter the House of Representatives today. here is a copy below.

Dear Representative,
I am writing to you today to express my concern about the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). As you know CAFTA passed in the Senate on June 30, 2005 and will be voted on in the House sometime in July. I am asking you to support the United States of America and VOTE NO to CAFTA.

As a representative it is your responsibility to do what is best for the United States of America and not what is in the best interest of other countries. Voting yes to CAFTA will mean that you do not have the interests of the American people at heart.

After all, CAFTA will do nothing to benefit the American economy. Instead as NAFTA did it will contribute further to economic disaster in our country. And place further burdens on the hard working American people as they are forced to find new jobs.

Further, when NAFTA was passed it was billed as a way to help Mexico. Today we have even more Mexican immigrants fleeing Mexico to find better jobs because NAFTA allowed companies to set up shop in Mexico and pay those people below the United States minimum wage. Thus US corporations who should know better did not pay these workers according to our standards. Instead they paid them according to the standards of the Mexican government, which did nothing to improve their quality of living. CAFTA, if passed will do the same thing for the Central American countries.

I am sure that with your busy schedule you have not taken the time to read the 1,000 plus pages of CAFTA that you are set to vote on, but here are some of the highlights:

CAFTA article 10.16.3 places the United States under the jurisdiction of international tribunals supervised by the United Nations.

CAFTA article 10.5.2(a) states that these international tribunals must use "customary international law" as established by the "principle legal systems of the world" when deciding cases.

CAFTA would pave the way for the United States to be forced to comply with CODEX laws and the WTO regarding control of vitamins.

Again, I urge you to please VOTE NO to CAFTA. I would appreciate hearing what your position on CAFTA is.

Here is a link to a website that has all the fax#'s for Reps, Senators.
Apparently most just delete or don't even bother to read e-mail and letters can take 1-3 weeks to pass their securituy screening process so faxing is the best way to get your opinion to your Reps. Thanks

http://www.conservativeusa.org/mega-cong.htm

Thanks Dee and welcome.

Don't forget calls. Calls are the most effective.

If this Congress is listening at all.

W

Welcome to our site, Dee. Your letter was terrific. That was a point that I forgot to bring up with my Representative about the 1000 page set of laws that we are going to have to follow if CAFTA is approved. I will get right back to him. I don't have a fax machine so I will have to depend on calling or emailing him. I don't think mine deletes his emails because I do get responses from him.

Thanks for joining our efforts.