Sherrod Brown: “at a recent White House news conference President Bush called on Congress to pass the Central American Free Trade…”

“at a recent White House news conference President Bush called on Congress to pass the Central American Free Trade Agreement this summer. A couple of weeks ago in this Chamber the most powerful Republican in the House, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay), promised a vote by July 4. Well, actually, last year the gentleman promised a vote on CAFTA during 2004, then a couple of months ago he promised there would be a vote by Memorial Day. Now, I think the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay) really means it, that there will actually be a vote on CAFTA by July 4. The many of us who have spoken out against CAFTA, and that includes lots of Republicans and Democrats, people on both sides of the aisle have a message. Our message is dump this Central American Free Trade Agreement. Renegotiate a CAFTA that large numbers of Members of both parties can support. Now, President Bush signed CAFTA more than a year ago. Every trade agreement negotiated by this administration, Chile, Singapore, Australia, Morocco, every single trade agreement negotiated by this administration has passed Congress within 2 months. {time} 2215 CAFTA, on the other hand, was signed in May of 2004. It has been almost 13 months since CAFTA was signed by the President, but it has languished in Congress for more than a year, six times longer than any other trade agreement.…”