Congress blasts Colombia free trade pact

[Judi Lynn]

Congress blasts Colombia free trade pact

Associated Press - April 7, 2008 4:33 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AP) - There's no shortage of opposition to President Bush's proposal for a free trade agreement with Colombia.

The pact is heavily opposed by Democrats, who claim Colombia has not done enough to halt violence, protect labor activists and demobilize paramilitary organizations.

Organized labor is against it, with one union saying it's an outrage for Bush to send Congress a trade agreement, "with a country that has 1 of the most ruthless records of repression of the trade union movement."

Business groups, including the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, back Bush's move and say they'll work to get the deal through Congress.

http://www.kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=8130583&nav=menu216_3

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If anyone knows about any petitions on the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, please post it. I'll be looking for one, too. Thanks.

[Judi Lynn]

1. Pelosi and Rangel Statement on Administration Sending Colombia Free Trade Agreement to Congress

Pelosi and Rangel Statement on Administration Sending Colombia Free Trade Agreement to Congress

WASHINGTON, April 7, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel issued the following statement today on the announcement by President Bush that he will send the Colombia Free Trade Agreement to Congress tomorrow:

"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. Under present circumstances, we cannot support the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

"A successful trade agenda depends on a joint partnership between the Congress and the Administration, where consultation is the norm, not the exception. Constitutionally, Congress is responsible for regulating international commerce. The President's disregard toward a co-equal branch of government serves only to work against the long-term interests of the United States and Colombia.

"The President's apparent disregard for the economic insecurity faced by millions of struggling American families highlights a misplaced set of priorities. Due to Republican intransigence, trade adjustment assistance to those who have lost their jobs due to trade lapsed last year and Republicans have blocked efforts to extend and expand these initiatives this year. Similarly, Democratic efforts to extend unemployment benefits, help those threatened by foreclosure, and strengthen health care for America's children have been rebuffed by President Bush.

"When congressional leaders meet with the President on Wednesday, we will urge him to focus on the economy and work in a bipartisan manner on a new stimulus package to help America's working families. We must work together to restore consumer, market, and worker confidence.

"House Democrats are committed to supporting Colombia and the efforts of President Uribe. We have twice passed the Andean Trade Preference Extension Act, providing economic development alternatives to illicit narcotics production and trafficking to create a more stable environment in Colombia. We have provided additional funds to support Colombia's efforts to strengthen its judicial system and stem violence against labor leaders. President Bush's efforts to create a false sense of urgency have no merit and ultimately ignore these valuable contributions to democracy in Colombia.

"Despite progress made by President Uribe, Colombia remains a dangerous place to be a labor activist, and for those who commit these acts of violence, there is little threat of prosecution or punishment. Sustained progress on the ground remains a prerequisite for our support."

DATASOURCE: Office of the Speaker of the House

http://orange.advfn.com/news_Pelosi-and-Rangel-Statement-on-Administration-Sending-Colombia-Free-Trade-Agreem_25661747.html

[JohnnyCougar]

2. Not strong enough, but it will do.

Anything short of accusing Bush of supporting terrorism by being friends with Uribe is not strong enough for me. But I guess we have to take the best of two evils.

[Judi Lynn]

3. US President befriending human scum who worked for the narco-traffickers, according to US Defense

Department's own intelligence report in 1991! Un-####ing-believable, isn't it?

Of course what ELSE do you expect from a man who also gets along just fine with Islam Karimov, Usbekistan's BOILING POLITICAL PRISONERS ALIVE-preferring President!

[Judi Lynn]

4. Lobby for Colombia Trade Pact Casts a Wide Net

April 8, 2008
Lobby for Colombia Trade Pact Casts a Wide Net
By ERIC LIPTON and STEVEN R. WEISMAN

WASHINGTON — There have been all-expense paid trips to Colombia for more than 50 members of Congress, featuring coffee tastings and dinner at a posh restaurant inside an old Spanish fort. The Colombian president has visited Washington to make personal appeals. Major corporations like WalMart and Citigroup are taking up the cause. And former Clinton administration officials have landed lucrative lobbying contracts.

This barrage of activity is over the trade pact that cost Mark Penn, a top adviser to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, his job over the weekend. Mr. Penn had been working for a presidential primary candidate opposed to the trade deal with Colombia, while also running a public relations firm hired by the Colombian government to promote it.

The debate has been quietly brewing ever since the Bush administration finished negotiating the pact to ease trade restrictions in late 2006. Human rights groups and labor leaders have urged Congress to put off considering the deal or to reject it outright, citing paramilitary violence against labor activists in Colombia.

The behind-the- scenes dispute has now escalated to a classic Washington boil in recent weeks after President Bush, growing impatient with Democrats on Capitol Hill, decided to send the agreement to Congress anyway, an action he announced formally on Monday.
(snip)

To help make its case, Colombia had already hired at least three firms on Capitol Hill, in addition to the work by Mr. Penn’s firm, Burson-Marsteller, paying out from $15,000 to $40,000 a month. Collectively the Colombian government has paid more than $1 million to firms that have negotiated or lobbied on behalf of the deal.

They include the Glover Park Group, the fast-growing firm set up by former Clinton White House aides including Joe Lockhart, who was chief spokesman for the president. (Howard Wolfson, Mrs. Clinton’s campaign communications director, was a partner at the firm but has taken a leave of absence.)

The firm has approached more than a dozen members of Congress, focusing on moderate Democrats who the lobbyists believe might be persuaded to disregard their party leaders and vote in favor of the deal.

Lobbyists at Johnson, Madigan, Peck, Boland & Stewart — whose partners include another former aide in the Clinton White House, Bill Danvers — have separately met with pro-business Democrats like Representative Joseph Crowley of New York. And Andrew Samet, a deputy secretary of labor in the Clinton administration, has been hired under yet another lobbying contract.
(snip)

To opponents of the deal, the campaign by the Colombia government, their lobbyists and the Bush administration proves how uneasy they are about the prospects for its adoption.

Bill Samuel, a lobbyist for the A.F.L.-C.I.O., said, “They obviously think they have a product that is going to be difficult to sell.”
(snip)

The A.F.L.-C.I.O. intends to run newspaper advertisements this week that say, ”Don’t Reward Murder.”
(snip)

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/08/washington/08lobby.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print