Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC-CENTRAL AMERICA-UNITED STATES FREE TRADE AGREEMENT IMPLEMENTATION ACT -- (House of Representatives - July 27, 2005)

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Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, it is possible to enjoy the many benefits of trade extolled here tonight without having a race to the bottom on working conditions. It is possible to enjoy the benefits of expanded trade without endangering our environment. It is possible to enjoy trade without yielding our sovereignty by granting foreigners more legal rights than Americans will have under this agreement-special preferences that these foreigners can use to undermine our health and safety laws. It is possible to have a modern 21st-century trade policy, which recognizes that we cannot measure the benefits of trade solely on how many widgets move across the border while forgetting what happens to the workers and the air we breathe and the water that we drink.

But it is impossible to accomplish any of this when the negotiators for our side come from an administration that cares as little about workers in America as those in Honduras, an administration that views the environment as just something to exploit.

I am against CAFTA because, basically, I am against protectionism. I reject an administration that protects polluters, that protects corporate wrongdoers, that protects those who think that arrogance alone can represent an effective foreign policy. I am proud to stand with the NAACP and LULAC and the League of Conservation Voters and so many Americans, who say we need a new trade policy, not yet another failed foreign policy from a narrow-minded administration.

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