Earl Blumenauer: “I take my 1 minute today to discuss CAFTA because there will be little meaningful debate on the most important trade…”

“I take my 1 minute today to discuss CAFTA because there will be little meaningful debate on the most important trade bill of this Congress. CAFTA is important less because of what is in it than what is not and because what it has come to represent. I come from a trade-oriented community, and I believe in honest trade. I personally asked President Bush to insist upon bipartisan trade legislation that would command at least 250 votes in this Chamber. This is possible if we are fair to workers at home and abroad and more sensitive to the environment. Instead, CAFTA has been crafted to be the lowest common denominator calculated to pass. By pandering to special interests, it reminds one of the old television show ``Let's Make a Deal.'' This is a lost opportunity. I will no longer support suboptimal trade agreements and await the day when we put principle and people before raw political calculation, pretending that it is trade policy. ____________________”