CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
Updated April 7, 2008 – 4:59 p.m.
Bush To Defy Pelosi, Send Colombia Trade Pact to Congress
By Timothy R. Homan, CQ Staff
President Bush will send the pending Colombia free-trade agreement to Congress Tuesday, setting up a showdown with Democrats who strongly oppose the pact.
“The need for this agreement is too urgent, the stakes for our national security too high to allow this year to end without a vote” on the agreement, Bush said Monday. “The administration is eager to work with members from both parties to ensure this vote is a positive one.”
Bush signed the transmittal document Monday, but the House will not receive it until members reconvene Tuesday. By sending the implementing legislation to Capitol Hill, the administration will force an up-or-down vote on the measure within 90 legislative days under fast-track rules (PL 107-210), which expired on June 30, 2007. The Colombia deal was negotiated under the old law.
Under the Constitution, the House must act first because the measure would affect revenue. A final Senate vote would occur in September if both chambers make use of the maximum 90 days.
Democrats in both chambers had sharp words for the administration.
“President Bush’s statement today regarding his unprecedented decision to send a free trade agreement to Congress without following established protocols of Congressional consultation is counter-productive, jeopardizing prospects for its passage,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., said in a joint statement with Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel . “Under present circumstances, we cannot support the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.”
Pelosi last week had urged Bush not to send the trade pact to Capitol Hill until and unless there was a deal for its consideration.
But administration officials and GOP leaders in Congress sought to put pressure on Democrats Monday to vote on the pact as soon as possible.
“It’s my hope the majority leadership will bring this agreement to the floor without further delay, and it’s my expectation the Colombian pact will be passed if members are given a chance to fully examine all the facts,” said House Minority Whip Roy Blunt , R-Mo.
U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab said that she, Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. , and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have all met with Pelosi about the Colombia trade pact over the past 18 months.
“She obviously has differences of opinion within her caucus, but we’re looking forward to working with her on this legislation, and as the president mentioned this morning, on Trade Adjustment Assistance, for those U.S. workers who have been negatively impacted by trade,” Schwab said.
The trade representative conceded that the outlook in the House is uncertain right now, given the opposition of so many Democrats to the Colombia pact. “When we send up a trade agreement, we never know, quite frankly, how it’s going to play,” she said.
But she added, “No Congress has ever defeated a trade agreement — a free trade agreement — in the history of writing or negotiating these free trade agreements.”
Bush To Defy Pelosi, Send Colombia Trade Pact to Congress
Democrats oppose the pending deal, saying the Colombian government has not taken sufficient steps to reduce violence against union members. Republicans counter that Colombia has worked hard to crack down on right-wing paramilitary groups blamed for much of the violence against labor activists.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., said, “The government of Colombia has undoubtedly made progress on this front, but the level of violence against trade unionists is still the worst in the world.”
Democrats criticized Bush’s decision to submit the implementing legislation to Congress before securing support from the party’s leadership.
“The president is making a big mistake,” said Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus of Montana. “I urge the president not to add fuel to the fire surrounding this agreement, but to reconsider this unwise decision.”
Upon implementation, the Colombia trade deal would immediately eliminate tariffs on more than 80 percent of Colombia-bound exports of industrial and consumer goods.
Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru already receive duty-free treatment on many U.S.-bound exports because of recently renewed trade preferences for the Andean nations (PL 110-191).
Republicans also raised the issue of national security as a reason to support the Colombia deal, saying a vote against the pact would empower Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his efforts to rally Latin American countries against the United States while alienating the Colombian government, led by President Alvaro Uribe.
In a conference call to reporters, Blunt said it comes down to whether “the Chavez path is the right path or the Uribe path is the right path.”
Two other trade deals — with Panama and South Korea — also were completed before the fast-track law expired. But each faces its own obstacles for congressional approval.
Trade Adjustment Assistance
If the Colombia pact is to have any chance of implementation, Bush first may have to strike a deal with congressional Democrats on renewal and expansion of Trade Adjustment Assistance (PL 110-89), which expired at the end of 2007. Supporters say TAA, originally focused on manufacturing workers, needs to be updated to reflect globalization and should include, for example, training and benefits for displaced service-sector workers.
The fiscal 2008 omnibus spending law (PL 110-161) includes money for TAA, keeping the program alive through Sept. 30.
Bush said talks are underway and his administration is committed to moving forward with “a good, bipartisan” TAA bill.
Bush To Defy Pelosi, Send Colombia Trade Pact to Congress
“We’re committed to advancing those discussions as quickly as possible,” Bush said. “I look forward to completing an agreement on trade adjustment that draws on many of the good ideas contained in bills introduced in the House and the Senate.”
Last year, the administration issued a veto threat against the House-passed TAA expansion measure (
Efforts are underway in the Senate to come up with a TAA measure that has bipartisan support, but progress has been slow.
Edward Epstein contributed to this story.
First posted April 7, 2008 10:48 a.m.
Comments
Why does anyone believe anything this administration has to say? Why is Bush still in office? If Bush succeeds, he will finish off what's left of the working class in this country.
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