Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur Winds House Amendment to Reject NAFTA Super Highway
Press Release
CONGRESSWOMAN MARCY KAPTUR WINS HOUSE AMENDMENT TO REJECT NAFTA SUPER HIGHWAY
Rep. Marcy Kaptur today declared "a major victory" following the 362-63 bipartisan victory in the U.S. House of Representatives late Tuesday night to prohibit the use of federal funds to advance the NAFTA Super Highway as part of the 2008 Transportation Appropriations Bill.
Kaptur, a senior member and longtime opponent of NAFTA and other unfair trade agreements, said the margin of the overwhelming anti-NAFTA vote sends "a clear message" that a majority of Congress has come to understand the impact of globalization on American jobs. "We hope tonight's vote is a beacon on the horizon that this Congress is finally going to correct the course of U.S. trade policy which has seriously gone awry."
The House approved an amendment crafted by Kaptur, a Democrat, and U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter (CA-52), a Republican, which prohibits the use of federal funds for Bush Administration officials to participate in continental working groups under the secretive Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP). The proposal to create the NAFTA Super Highway has become a topic of enormous controversy in Texas and the heartland states.
"The Hunter-Kaptur Amendment," Kaptur said, "was a victory for openness in trade negotiations, highway safety, good wages, and fair trade policies. The grip of global corporations was loosened last night as House members cheered this amendment's passage and its call for transparency and oversight over the Executive Branch in trade proceedings."
Congresswoman Kaptur said the NAFTA Super Highway, a proposed 12-lane highway that is already under construction in Texas, will divert thousands of Asian cargo containers from California ports to Mexican ports, and then move them to the U.S. through privatized corridors across the country without adequate safety provisions and inspection.
"Now, at least, Congress will have the opportunity to investigate this proposed international corridor and should not be a literal "fast track" for more American jobs to leave our country and unregulated foreign commerce to flow through Mexico to the U.S. on privatized toll roads that undermine our nation's defense and highway systems."
Source