CNN Lou Dobbs Tonight - Transcript

CNN Lou Dobbs Tonight - Transcript
Friday, May 27, 2005

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DOBBS: And we should remind everyone, Louise, that the president decided to defer a congressional vote on this bill before the presidential elections last fall. And as you point out, it is well overdue now before Congress. Louise Schiavone, thank you.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus voted overwhelmingly this week to oppose CAFTA. That vote 14-1. The lone vote of support came from Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar of Texas who says CAFTA could ease America's illegal immigration crisis. He's our guest tonight from Washington, D.C.

Congressman, good to have you with us.

REP. HENRY CUELLAR, (D) TEXAS: Thank you, Lou.

DOBBS: Let's-you have to feel like the lone ranger, if being from Texas, you should appreciate the expression. Only one of 14 in the Hispanic Caucus. Why do you feel necessary to go against your colleagues on this issue? Democratic colleagues.

CUELLAR: Yes, well, first of all, I do support CAFTA. There were four members that abstained from voting because they haven't decided yet, Hispanic Caucus members.

But we have to keep one thing in mind, Lou. That is, the Hispanic community is a growing, diverse group. And I respect the opinions of my colleagues.

But at the same time, there's a lot of Hispanic groups that have been pushing very hard for CAFTA, for example the Hispanic Alliance for Free Trade, which is composed of 125 business organizations which includes the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, do support CAFTA. And they understand the benefits of CAFTA.

DOBBS: Well, you're a Democrat; the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is pro-business. You're a Democrat with a proud tradition of look out for working men and women in this country. We know that CAFTA is NAFTA in miniature certainly. We know that NAFTA's result in the loss of three quarters-at least three quarters of a million jobs in this country. How can you support an agreement that is so blatantly anti- worker there are no safeguards for Central American workers, neither five Central American countries, nor in the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean.

How do you square that out?

CUELLAR: Several points. Let me make the first point. First of all, we've got to keep one I thing in mind. Since 1980s we have been trading with have been trading with the Central American countries under an agreement called the Caribbean base and initiative, where they send all of their goods over to the United States duty-free. That is, they don't pay any duties. But with we send our agriculture products, and our goods over there, we pay up to 40 percent, 40 percent tariff on those goods. Now, do you call that fair? I don't think that's fair, and I don't think it's fair for the American consumer and for our agriculture community. I want to see a level playing field. And if we do that, this will be fair for our workers, and it would create more jobs in the United States.

DOBBS: Well, that's certainly as you know, hasn't been the experience with NAFTA. It's also a region, those five countries, plus the Dominican Republican-Republic, Congressman, amount to an economy the size of New Haven, Connecticut, some $85 billion. They can't buy much. In point in fact, the International Monetary Fund is supporting a number-three of those countries, either directly or indirectly with loans. They're not in austerity program certainly all them.

But-I mean, this is a difficult sell for me, because I just don't see the market. And in point in fact, we have a deficit of about $2 billion with those five Central American countries. I'm not-I'm sort of struggling to understand why we would be concerned about that when we have $162 billion deficit last year with China. Help me out here.

CUELLAR: Well, sure. First of all, when you look at the markets, they're small countries. But when you look at exportation that we send over, we send up to 15 billion of exports. In fact, those small countries are bigger than Russia, China-I mean, Russia, India and some other countries put together. They're small, but we could export goods over there. But you hit it right on the nail, you're exactly right. It's not fair. We send our goods over to them, and we pay up to 40 percent of tariffs. But when they send their goods over, and I'm talking about those specific Central American countries, it's duty-free. I want to level the playing field. It is very important that we play fair and this is what this agreement allows us to export new jobs, exportation over there so we can create jobs here in the United States.

DOBBS: Well, Congressman, it is nice, even though we disagree on this piece of legislation, I must say it is nice to talk with a Congressman-one of the representatives the people in this country who is actually concerned about exports. We've got a lot of people who think that free trade is just about buying more. Henry Cuellar, good to have you with us. Thank you, sir.

CUELLAR: Thank you. And it's good talking to another Texan.

DOBBS: You got a deal. Thank you.

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