Freshman Senators Stand Against Modified NAFTA Expansion
Politics of Pu****ng Trade Agreements
Reflected in Peru Trade Vote of New Members
Wa****ngton D.C. - Sensitivity to the politics of pu****ng
NAFTA style trade agreements -- often associated with the
outsourcing and off shoring of American jobs - has led
many House and Senate freshman members to consistently
oppose a continuation of the controversial trade model.
Seven of nine Senate freshmen Democrats voted to oppose
the modified NAFTA expansion into Peru, roughly mirroring
the thirty-one of forty-three freshman Democrats in the
House who opposed the same Peru FTA in early November.
Senators Bob Casey, Sherrod Brown, Amy Klobuchar, Claire
McCaskill, Jon Tester, Bernie Sanders, and Sheldon
Whitehouse joined a majority of House Democrats,
including the wave of thirty-one freshman Democratic
members, in voting against the Peru trade pact. In spite
of that opposition, the Peru Agreement passed the Senate
today by a margin of 77 to 18.
"Senators, with 6 year terms, are meant to be insulated
from the will of angry voters, and that was very clear on
the Peru vote Tuesday," stated Andy Gussert, Director of
Citizens trade Campaign. "Many Senators stood against the
will of their constituents by sup****ting this broken
system. Whether it's NAFTA, CAFTA or PERUFTA, candidates
are getting elected by running against the status quo,
and those freshman members are keeping their campaign
promises."
Trade has also become a major issue in Presidential
politics during the 2008 election. In key early
Presidential primary states, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and
both Iowa freshmen Democratic House members opposed the
Peru NAFTA expansion, as did both New Hamp****re
Democratic House members.
In fact, most Democratic Presidential candidates have
announced opposition to the Peru FTA, including former
Senator John Edwards, candidate Bill Richardson, current
Senators Joseph Biden of Delaware and Chris Dodd of
Connecticut, and House member Dennis Kucinich. All five
presidential candidates in the Senate, including
Republican John McCain, did not vote on the controversial
Peru Agreement.
Opponents of the Peru FTA are advocating for a new
direction to better address problems found in the failed
NAFTA/CAFTA trade deals. Some of those problems include:
.. Foreign investors based in Peru will have the right to
question our domestic laws and receive compensation if
such laws undermine cor****ate profits.
.. Incentives are provided for U.S. companies to leave the
United States under the investment chapter of the
agreement.
.. The sovereignty of local, state and federal U.S.
government bodies will be undermined. Foreign companies
will be able to bypass "Buy America" laws.
.. The elimination of remaining tariffs for staple food
crops allow agribusiness cartels to dump cheap im****ts
into Peru at below the cost of production, displacing
farmers from their local markets, forcing them from their
land, and causing a mass migration from the rural
countryside.
Not one U.S. labor, environmental, faith or consumer
group endorsed the Peru FTA. The agreement was also
opposed by both of Peru's labor federations, its major
indigenous people's organization, and a prominent
Peruvian Archbishop.
With a majority of House and Senate freshman Democrats
opposing the Peru FTA, along with a majority of all House
Democrats, it is unlikely that controversial agreements
including Colombia, Panama or South Korea will be brought
up in the near future. The Peru FTA was the least
controversial of four agreements that President Bush is
attempting to push before Congress this year.
Gussert, who recently served as President of a state
labor federation, criticized President Bush for his
remarks calling for passage of the Colombia Free Trade
Agreement. "Colombia is the most dangerous place in the
world to be a union member. More labor leaders are killed
there than in the rest of the world combined," Gussert
said. "No one should ever have to put their life on the
line in order to stand up for workplace rights."
That the Senate passed the NAFTA-style trade agreement
into Peru by such a wide margin is not unexpected. The
Morocco and Bahrain FTAs were passed by voice vote in
2004; 80 senators voted for the Australia FTA in 2004;
and 83 voted for China permanent normal trade relations
in 2000. The Peru FTA received less Democratic sup****t in
the House than the 2004 Australia FTA, the 2004 Morocco
FTA, and the 2005 Bahrain FTA.
# # #
For more information about trade, call CTC at (202)
494-8826 or email Andy Gussert at
agussert@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Citizens Trade Campaign
(CTC) is a national coalition of environmental, labor,
consumer, family farm, faith, and other civil society
groups, and serves as a leading advocacy vehicle in the
fight for international trade policy that focuses on the
interests of the majority of the world's working people.
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