Dominican Republic-Central America- United States Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC-CENTRAL AMERICA-UNITED STATES FREE TRADE AGREEMENT IMPLEMENTATION ACT -- (House of Representatives - July 27, 2005)
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Mr. DAVIS of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York for his leadership on this issue.
Let me begin with an image the President of the United States laid out before us. In his inaugural address very close to where we stand today, the President said that we have the capacity as a superpower on this planet to change the world, to reform it, to make it a better and more democratic place.
I wish that with respect to this debate, I say to the gentleman from New York, that those same values and that same vision had been brought to the floor, because the reality is that, as one who believes an American power can make a difference, this agreement is a missed opportunity.
Instead of taking these nations that struggle so much day in and day out, instead of challenging them to move to a better place, we gave up and we accepted the status quo. And one of the cruelest and strangest arguments, I say to the gentleman from New York, that I have heard tonight is that somehow we are not standing by these countries if we defeat this agreement.
What a bizarre, upside-down world we would have, Mr. Speaker, if we think that we are standing by these countries when we are not standing by the millions of children between the ages of 5 and 14 who got up to go to work this morning, will get up to go to work again tomorrow morning. What a strange and bizarre world if we think we are standing by these countries when we cannot stand by the dignity of their women. And what a strange and bizarre world if we think we stand by these countries when we do not stand by their voiceless and by the people who work and who are shot down in fire because they speak up for their political rights.
For the Republicans and the conservatives who support this agreement, if you believe in what your President said, if you believe that the superpower has the capacity to help remake this world, then let it begin in Central America, and let it begin by pushing these nations to do better.
The final statement I will make is that this is a values statement. We hear the word ``values'' in this Chamber a lot. Well, the strongest value is what we take of our conscience and how we extend it to other people. A value is whether or not we push others to do better, and we fall short on the value scale tonight.
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Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I do not profess to know everything that CAFTA is going to do, but I do know that when I wake up in the morning, my congressional district has lost more than 150,000 good-paying manufacturing jobs. I know that we make candy. We make a lot of it. We used to be called the Candy Capital of the World. But my candy makers are leaving because the price of sugar is too high.
I was told and I was hoping that CAFTA would help reduce the price of sugar for my candy makers. It will not. Therefore, there is no reason for me to vote for CAFTA, and I shall not.
Vote no for CAFTA.
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