[progchat_action] Pelosi pushes Peru free trade pact through the House
 
Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2007 09:38:44 -0600 (CST)

(Pelosi went against the wishes of many in her own party. Although the
Change to Win Labor confederation opposed the pact, the AFL-CIO was missing
in action. SR)

House Sends Free-Trade Pact With Peru to Vote in Senate
Pelosi Supports Deal, Which Most Democrats Reject

By Mark Drajem
Bloomberg News
November 9, 2007

The House of Representatives approved a free-trade agreement with Peru
yesterday, the first such accord passed by Congress since Democrats won
control last year.

In a 285 to 132 vote, the House approved the deal to eliminate tariffs and
set rules of investment between the two countries. The measure, which came
to a vote only after Democrats got the Bush administration to toughen labor
and environment provisions, now goes to the Senate, which is likely to
approve it.

"We have to be concerned about the impact of trade, but we cannot turn our
backs on it," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) said before the vote.
The Peru agreement "is a marked difference from where we've been before. If
you are ever to vote for any trade agreement, this would be the easiest one
to do."

Critics of the agreement said the opposition of many Democrats to the Peru
accord, the least controversial of four free-trade pacts pending before
Congress, makes it less likely that the other three, with South Korea,
Colombia and Panama, will be approved.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) forced
the administration to renegotiate provisions in the accord, requiring Peru
to amend the pact and rework its regulations for workers.

Still, Pelosi and Rangel were not able to persuade a majority of their
fellow Democrats to support the agreement, as they voted 109 to 116 against
it. Accords with Bahrain, Australia and Morocco all garnered more Democratic
votes.

"The powerful opposition within the majority party makes clear that this
deal was not a good deal for workers and should never have been put
forward," Teamsters President James Hoffa said. "I hope that the Democratic
leadership tells the Bush administration that Congress will now focus on
job-creating trade policies and no more of these job-killing agreements."

Trade between the United States and Peru, which totaled $8.8 billion last
year, will grow by $1.5 billion once the accord is implemented, as Peru
ships more asparagus and apparel and American producers export more meat and
grain, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission.

The administration and lobbyists from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National
Foreign Trade Council and other pro-trade groups lobbied to try to secure an
overwhelming vote total, clearing the way for consideration of the other
pending deals.

"If you look where this Congress started out" after Democrats took power
last year, "this vote is historic," said Nicole Venable, the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce's top trade lobbyist. "We've got a success under our belt, and we
need to build on that momentum."

But each of the other pending accords has its "individual hang-ups," said
Peter Hakim, president of the independent Inter-American Dialogue, based in
Washington.

Panama elected as president of its national assembly a man the U.S. accuses
of murdering two American soldiers, which drew objections from both the
State Department and lawmakers. South Korea hasn't fully opened its market
to American beef, which Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus says is
a prerequisite for considering that accord. Violence against labor leaders
in Colombia has led the AFL-CIO, the largest U.S. labor organization, and
Democratic leaders to oppose that agreement.

Although the AFL-CIO didn't oppose the Peru accord, it vows to get accords
with Colombia or Korea voted down.

"The Peru template is far from perfect, and more work needs to be done to
address other important concerns," AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/08/AR2007110800
208.html

This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from
http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm