Opposing the Central American Free Trade Agreement
OPPOSING THE CENTRAL AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT -- (House of Representatives - March 01, 2005)
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Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his leadership and expertise on this issue. I tried to get his book at a book store near my home, and I could not find it there. So I hope the gentleman will help me find a copy of his book on trade.
The real question is, what is the goal of our recent trade agreement? If it is to export jobs, to increase the trade deficit, to lower the wages of American workers, to fuel the race to the bottom for workers everywhere, to damage the global environment and to benefit multinational corporations that have really no loyalty to the United States, our economy or our workers, then you would rank our trade agreements as a huge success. And if you like NAFTA, then you will love CAFTA.
But what I want to talk about a little bit tonight is the moral dimension of this question. On June 23 and 24, a delegation of six bishops representing the Catholic Church in Central America came to the United States and met with the bishop secretariat, the chairman of the Domestic and International Policy Committees of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and came up with a statement on CAFTA, and I just want to read a couple of things from that.
Number one, I think it puts it in a context that sometimes we do not think about. Number one, it says according to our pastoral vision, which is inspired by the gospel and the church's social teaching, the human person must be at the center of all economic activity. Free trade agreements, such as CAFTA, should be a way of achieving authentic human development that upholds basic values such as human dignity, solidarity, and subsidiarity. Whether such treatments are ethical or not depends on how these values are pursued.
A second point they made: If trade agreements are shaped by a proper moral perspective, they can promote human development while respecting the environment by fostering closer economic cooperation among and within countries and by raising standards of living especially for the poorest and most abandoned. Human solidarity must accompany economic integration so as to preserve community life, protect families and livelihoods, and defend local cultures.
Then they say, in light of the values and principles that we have outlined, and there were more, as well as the situation of the people, we express some of our specific concerns about the potential impact of CAFTA on our countries, especially in Central America. If I could just for a minute say a couple of those.
One, there has not been sufficient information and debate in our countries, they are talking about the Central American countries, about the various aspects of CAFTA and its impact on our societies. This troubles us deeply given the obvious imbalance in power and influence that exists between the United States and the Central American countries and the impact the agreement will have on our peoples, especially in Central America. This lack of dialoguing consensus regarding the treaty is also leading to growing discontent. In Central America this could lead to violence and other civic unrest which could further hinder true democratic reforms and respect for the rule of law.
They are suggesting that CAFTA, among other things, could lead to violence and other civic unrest.
Number two, they talk about in the area of agriculture that there is insufficient attention given to such sensitive issues as the potential impact of U.S. farm supports on Central American farm producers.
And they talk about, number three, while certain labor and environmental provisions are included in the agreement, it is not clear that the enforcement mechanism within CAFTA will lead to stronger protection of fundamental worker rights and the environment.
We are talking about leaders of the Catholic Church in Central America and in the United States who beg us to think about the impact on ordinary people in their countries, in our country, and the moral dimension that has to be considered when we look at important U.S. policy decisions like this. And I think that they have raised very, very important questions that deserve our great attention.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for letting me read some of this.
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Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman was talking about how there are winners and losers, actually a very narrow band of winners with our trade policy, mostly the investors and the multinational corporations, but I notice that because of an inquiry that the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) had made, that it was found that public dollars from the Agency for International Development, the USAID office were used to promote the President's trade policy, as I understand it, in violation of Federal and USAID lobbying restrictions, that a $700,000 taxpayer funded grant was actually given to business groups to promote CAFTA in violation of the regulations.
I think that when there is a policy debate for the administration to unfairly use these taxpayer dollars to propagandize, to fund outside organizations, business organizations who stand to gain from the outcome, is really improper, if not illegal activities, and I really want to congratulate the gentleman for looking into this, because the taxpayers deserve a right to know.
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Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to ask a question, maybe my colleague does not know the answer to this, but when the Office of the Inspector General finds this kind of breach of the regulations and the rules, what happens? I mean is this, you were wrong to do this, does nothing happen?
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Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to read one of the statements of the bishops that I think sums up what the gentleman has been saying.
The moral measure of any trade agreement should be how it affects the lives and dignities of poor families and vulnerable workers whose voices should receive special attention in this discussion.
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