Relating to the Consideration of H.R. 5724, United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act

RELATING TO THE CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 5724, UNITED STATES-COLOMBIA TRADE PROMOTION AGREEMENT IMPLEMENTATION ACT -- (House of Representatives - April 10, 2008)

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Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 1092 and urge my colleagues to vote for this resolution.

The Administration would like to force this Congress to take up the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, FTA, before August.

This resolution will allow Congress, not the Administration, to decide if and when this body should take legislative action on the U.S.-Colombia FTA.

I strongly oppose the U.S.-Colombia FTA. This is yet another flawed, NAFTA-style, trade deal that harms workers in the United States and in Colombia.

Our workers and our communities have been devastated by our flawed trade policies. Since 2001, over three million valuable manufacturing jobs have been lost due to the NAFTA model of trade, now being perpetuated in the U.S.-Colombia FTA.

In Ohio, where we have lost more than 236,000 high-paying manufacturing jobs, we know the realities of these failed trade policies all too well.

The actual number is much higher because we have not included job loss in the service sector and supply chain that we cannot account for. Excluded are local businesses, such as restaurants, just down the road from closed manufacturing facilities that are forced to close their doors. The ripple effect includes a loss of health care and college educations.

Trade agreements should be responsible. The U.S.-Colombia FTA continues the destructive trade policies that spur the exodus of well paying jobs and undermine the ability of working people to protect their living standards. That is not a responsible trade deal.

Trade agreements that fail to enforce worker rights are irresponsible. Approximately 2,300 labor organizers, labor leaders and union members have been murdered in Colombia since 1991. Today, Colombia is still the most dangerous country in the world for union members.

In February, an AFL-CIO delegation met with leaders of the major Colombian labor federations. According to the AFL-CIO ``[l]eaders of the major Colombian Labor federations told the delegation they oppose any free trade deal between the United States and Colombia until the government takes strong action to stop the violence against trade union members and ends assaults on union rights.''

The U.S. must not continue to expand a failed trade policy based on the NAFTA model. It outsources valuable American jobs and accelerates the transfer of capital out of the U.S. It is a model that harms workers, erodes environmental protections and limits access to healthcare for the poor in the countries we trade with.

Congress must take a much needed step back and bring all parties to the table to examine how we can fix our broken trade system.

Common sense suggests that our trade policies should promote workers' rights, human rights, strong protections for our natural resources and the environment, and expansion of Buy American practices that support American competitiveness. What America needs is Fair Trade, not Free Trade.

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