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Pelosi: CAFTA is a Step Backward for Workers' Rights

July 27, 2005

Pelosi: CAFTA is a Step Backward for Workers' Rights

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Contact: Brendan Daly/Jennifer Crider, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. - House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders held a news conference this morning after the weekly caucus meeting to discuss the Central American Free Trade Agreement, which the House is scheduled to debate late tonight. Below are Pelosi's opening remarks:

"I am excited about what I hear from my colleagues. What I hear from them is that they understand the ramifications of CAFTA. This is a small bill economically, but it is a big bill in terms of its impact.

"My colleagues Charlie Rangel and Ben Cardin, who are here with us, will explain some of the aspects of the bill more specifically, but the one point I want to make is that it is a step backward for workers because it removes the requirement that these countries have to abide by international labor standards.

"How could that be the right way to go? We had the opportunity to come together for a CAFTA that would have respected workers' rights and respected the environmental principles as part of a labor agreement, as a trade treaty. The President decided to go another route, a partisan route.

"More than 90 percent of our Caucus is enthusiastically opposed to this, but we stand ready to come together to support a CAFTA that respects labor and environmental principles.

"But if the President wins this vote, he will have expended enormous resources to do so. He has all the power of the presidency, and all we have on our side is the fact that we are right. So if the President wins on this, and I do not know that it is certain that he will, it will be a Pyrrhic victory for him, because we will take our message to the American people that we are the ones looking out for them.

"Under the President's Administration, we have lost millions of manufacturing jobs. He is still in the net loss column for manufacturing jobs. So as our manufacturing base erodes, as our industrial base erodes, we have a President who is contributing to the further erosion of that base.

"The American people deserve better. The American people will know in a clear way the difference between how we are working for them, and how the Republicans are ignoring their aspirations."