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House Votes to Put Off Trade Deal Bush Sought
By Carl Hulse
The New York Times
Friday 11 April 2008
Washington - The unity exhibited Thursday by House Democrats in stalling
a White House-sponsored trade pact with Colombia masks deep party divisions
on the issue, which is certain to become even more highly charged given coming
consequential trade deals with South Korea and other countries.
An influential bloc of Democrats continues to favor expanded trading relationships
with nations willing to meet labor and environmental conditions. That puts them
at odds with fellow Democrats allied with unions that blame trade deals that
have helped advance globalization for the loss of millions of American industrial
jobs. The fight has flared in the presidential campaign as well.
"There has been a split within the party, I think, that has become pretty
evident," said Representative Joseph Crowley of New York, who has backed
previous trade deals. He attributes deepening Democratic resistance to trade
agreements to what he calls the "Dobbsian effect," named for the
CNN broadcaster and vehement trade critic Lou Dobbs.
But Mr. Crowley and others inclined to entertain free trade pacts sided with
Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, and defied President Bush in voting 224 to
195 on Thursday to put off consideration of the agreement with Colombia until
the speaker decides the time is right. All but 10 Democrats backed Ms. Pelosi
while 6 Republicans joined in stalling the agreement.
Democrats said Mr. Bush tried to ram the trade agreement through despite warnings
from lawmakers that the deal was in trouble, given the deteriorating domestic
economic climate, the approaching election and concern about treatment of workers
and labor organizers by the Colombian government. They said Congress had to
make sure that voters saw lawmakers as working on their behalf before opening
the door to more trade with other countries.
"If we are going to be successful in passing a trade agreement,"
Ms. Pelosi said, "we have to first tell the American people that we have
a positive economic agenda."
But Republicans said Democrats were only hurting American workers, arguing
that the agreement would level the playing field by eliminating duties on American-made
goods entering Colombia, which already has significant duty-free access to the
United States.
"Even postponing Congressional consideration of this agreement does tremendous
damage to America's competitiveness," said Representative Jim McCrery
of Louisiana, the senior Republican on the Ways and Means Committee.
"Colombia will buy tractors, mining equipment and fertilizer from Canada,
France and Germany instead of Illinois, Georgia and Texas," Mr. McCrery
said.
President Bush and others also argued that the decision could undermine President
Álvaro Uribe of Colombia, an ally who has been taking a harder line on
narcotics traffickers and challenging the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez,
a foe of the United States who has been trying to expand his reach in the region.
House Republicans referred sarcastically to the Democratic plan to remove a
90-day deadline for considering the agreement as the "Hugo Chávez
rule."
Mr. Bush, in a statement, denounced the House move. "Today's unprecedented
and unfortunate action by the House of Representatives led by Speaker Pelosi
to change the rules governing legislation to implement our trade agreement with
Colombia is damaging to our economy, our national security, and our relations
with an important ally," he said. "It also undermines the trust
required for any administration to negotiate trade agreements in the future."
Republicans said the reverberations for other emerging agreements are at least
as significant as the impact on Colombia relations. Administration officials
fear the House action on Colombia could significantly diminish any remaining
hope of reaching agreement on a worldwide trade pact still under negotiation
in the World Trade Organization.
And they said it would be even harder to settle pending deals with Panama and
South Korea. South Korea's president, Lee Myung-bak, is scheduled to meet
with Mr. Bush next week.
Ms. Pelosi and other Democrats said their intent was not to kill the agreement.
Instead, they portrayed the vote as a response to what they saw as heavy-handedness
by the administration - coupled with an effort to force President Bush
to consider some domestic economic initiatives to soften opposition to the trade
pact.
Even though a majority of Democrats are opposed to further trade deals, under
the right conditions, a sufficient number of them could probably be found to
join with Republicans in approving the pact with Colombia. The agreement with
Peru passed in that fashion last year.
"Globalization can be a good thing; trade can be a good thing,"
said Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, a member of the Democratic leadership
and a frequent trade advocate. "But if you don't have an agenda
to make sure Americans win in that globalization, you are going to see a squeeze
on the middle class, where they resist attempts to open up markets to American-made
products."
Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the House Republican leader, said the
Democratic strategy of delaying the trade agreement to try to entice the White
House to back a domestic economic package amounted to "political blackmail."
"This is a precipitous step in the wrong direction," Mr. Boehner
said. "We're sending a very bad message to our partners around the
world - all in the name of election-year politics. I think that it's
regrettable; it's despicable."
Mr. Boehner and others suggested that Ms. Pelosi was trying to spare Democrats
from a tough vote before the November election, one that could alienate labor,
displaced workers and companies pursuing export markets.
"It is a very tough, if not impossible, vote for most Democrats,"
said Representative Eliot L. Engel, the New York Democrat who heads a House
subcommittee on Western Hemisphere issues. He said he urged the administration
to delay forwarding the trade deal to Congress until the political and economic
environment improved.
The trade issue has also resonated on the campaign trail, where Senators Hillary
Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois have both sought to
appeal to anxious voters by taking a hard line against trade deals. Mrs. Clinton's
position on the North American Free Trade Agreement, passed during her husband's
administration, has been closely scrutinized. A senior adviser to Mrs. Clinton
was forced to step aside earlier this week after disclosures that he had met
with Colombian officials on the trade agreement.
Ms. Pelosi did not say when she might consider allowing a vote. And while many
expect it to be postponed until after the election, allies say she has not ruled
out bringing it up before then.
One Democrat noted that the Thursday vote creates a situation in which the
party could come under increased fire from organized labor if it moves ahead
later this year. It would then be a Democratic decision to proceed rather than
one forced upon them by the White House.
"We own it now," said the Democrat, who did not want to be named
because he was raising concerns about the speaker's decision.
But Mr. Engel said he believed that Ms. Pelosi kept the trade deal alive because
a vote now probably would have ended in defeat. "What she did may down
the line ultimately help pass the bill," he said.
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