United States-Columbia Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act
Floor Speech
Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, I do understand the concern that my very good friends have expressed on the Democratic side about the threat of violence in Colombia and the loss of jobs in America. What I don't understand is how voting against this trade agreement helps on either front. A ``no'' vote does nothing to create more jobs in America or, in fact, to reduce the level of violence in Colombia.
The fact is that the rate of violence in Colombia has been cut in half. The murder of trade union members is down by 80 percent. College enrollment is up by 50 percent. 90 percent of children are in school now. Poverty is down by 25 percent. Why? In large part because of the $8 billion in Plan Colombia we provided.
Now the Colombian Government wants to show its appreciation for our investment in Colombia's future by letting us share in their new prosperity. It's difficult to do that, though, when Colombia has average tariff barriers of 9 percent, with agriculture at 17 percent. The U.S. has virtually no tariff barriers, so this is a one-way street going in our direction, this trade agreement.
The share of U.S. imports, though, to Colombia, as a total amount of their imports, has dropped from 21 percent to 9 percent; and that's because of the trade agreements Colombia has been able to sign with Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and others; and they're about to further eat into American jobs by signing a trade agreement with the European Union. We in America made the investment to help Colombia become less violent, more democratic and more prosperous; and now we want to disengage rather than reap the benefits of producing jobs, products and services in America for export to Colombia.
It seems to me my very good friends on the Democratic side should support our President, who is doing everything he can to create jobs here. He understands when other countries, don't have tariff barriers that we have to overcome we can produce and sell more products and services to those countries and generate more jobs in this country. That's what we ought to be about. It seems to me a ``yes'' vote on all three trade agreements is the right thing to do.
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