John Rice Carter: “I agree wholeheartedly that I think an up-or-down vote and we will have a Colombia free-trade agreement. I think that…”

“I agree wholeheartedly that I think an up-or-down vote and we will have a Colombia free-trade agreement. I think that our Democratic colleagues will be reasonable and understand this. And I think we have the votes to get it done. But I think Speaker Pelosi needs to release this and let us have a vote. That is the key thing. And you notice that letter you just read kept talking about national security. What we really have here, if you look at it closely, is a contest of two socialist--we used to call them Communist--a regime in Hugo Chavez, and we have Uribe who is trying to create a free democracy, and a free enterprise system. These are two, side-by-side competing systems that will influence that entire continent. And that is why this is in our national security interest. It is not just a trade agreement which is going to benefit American workers. It is a security agreement that points to the direction that we stand up for what we believe in, democracy and free enterprise.”