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WASHINGTON, May 27, 2005 -- I strongly support the right free trade agreement with Central America and the Dominican Republic. I have been working to expand trading ties with our friends and neighbors in the region since President Reagan proposed the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) in 1983. In 1999-2000, I was proud to join with other Democrats and Republicans to lead the largest expansion of the CBI program in its history.
The right CAFTA would be supported by wide margins of Democrats and Republicans. Most Democrats I know want to vote for the right CAFTA agreement.
Sadly, the Bush Administration ignored virtually all Democrats when it negotiated this CAFTA. Not surprisingly, virtually no Democrat supports this CAFTA.
The main reason is not hard to understand. On the one hand, the Bush CAFTA requires these poor countries to apply the latest and highest American standards to protect intellectual property and foreign investors. On the other hand, the Administration refuses to include even the most basic standards of common decency and fairness for working people. To accept the absence of standards would be to turn our backs on 20 years of progress. The CBI program has from the beginning — under President Reagan — required countries to work to achieve these basic standards. The Bush CAFTA allows countries to have any kind of law or no law at all.
That does not make sense. Putting these standards in the agreement is not only the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing too. Basic standards for working people ensure the fundamental dignity of all work and help countries to build a true middle class society that builds nations and provides new markets for American workers, farmers and businesses.
I hope that the Bush Administration responds to Congressional advice and makes the small but significant changes to the agreement that will allow Democrats and Republicans once again to join together in broad bipartisan support.
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