Today in Washington Congressional Republicans and the White House are whining that Speaker Nancy Pelosi played unfair by blocking a vote on a trade deal between the United States and Colombia. As usual when it comes to Republican tears and the truth, neither were anywhere near each other. What Pelosi did today was stop an unfair trade deal from going through that would have helped the pockets of the Colombian government and American corporations while screwing the workers of both countries.
From the AP:
"The president took action" in submitting the Colombia free trade agreement to Congress on Tuesday, she said. "I will take mine tomorrow." Pelosi said that Bush called her Monday to tell her he was sending the agreement to Congress.
The White House has aggressively pushed Congress to approve the trade deal with Colombia, arguing that helping a key ally in South America is in the political and security interests of the United States.
But most Democrats, backed by organized labor and some human rights groups, are against it. They have cited violence against union organizers in Colombia and have also made clear they won't consider further free trade agreements until legislation is passed to expand current programs to help American workers displaced by foreign trade.
Pelosi, at a news conference, said that if legislation approving the trade deal were taken up now, it would be defeated, "and what message would that send" to the Colombian people?
She denied that the rule change doomed action on the agreement this year, saying that "depends on the good faith in which we conduct these negotiations." The administration has been talking to Democrats about ways to help American workers. The House last year passed legislation to expand the Trade Adjustment Assistance program that provides financial aid and training to people who lose jobs as a result of trade, but the White House threatened a presidential veto and the Senate never took it up.
Trading with our friends around the globe is certainly important, but how we trade should come first. Before George Bush became President our country was looked up at as a symbol of freedom and equality. We should demand that of our international trading practices as well as what goes on internally here at home. As Representatives Hale and Michaud said yesterday, they would be dead in Colombia for doing what they do with labor here in America. That needs to change before we agree to anything.
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