Sherrod Brown: “I rise to oppose this closed rule. Several of us have tried in the Committee on Rules to offer amendments to attach…”

“I rise to oppose this closed rule. Several of us have tried in the Committee on Rules to offer amendments to attach labor, environmental, and human rights standards to this measure. We were denied that by the Committee on Rules and by the closed rule. The Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, so-called, is just like fast track. There are no environmental, there are no human rights, there are no labor rights safeguards. It is just like CBI, the Caribbean Basin Initiative. There are no labor standards, there are no environmental standards, there are no human rights standards. And it is just like the North American Free Trade Agreement. Again, there are no environmental standards, there are no worker safety standards. There are no labor standards of any kind, or human rights standards, in this bill. In fact, Mr. Speaker, this bill is misnamed. The Africa Growth and Opportunity Act should be known as the ``NAFTA Expansion to Africa Act.'' We should have learned something from the North American Free Trade Agreement. When we pass these trade agreements and we do not put environmental standards in, we do not put labor standards in, we do not protect workers in both, in all the countries involved, ours and theirs, we end up costing American jobs. We end up exploiting workers in those countries, whether it is Mexico, whether it is in the Caribbean, whether it is in Africa, whether it is in China, however we write these trade agreements.”