Vote No on Peru
Free Trade Agreement While Bush Threatens TAA Veto
In light of President Bush's threat to veto H.R. 3920, the Trade and
Globalization Assistance Act of 2007, we are writing to urge House Democrats to
vote NO on the Peru Free Trade Agreement, scheduled for a floor vote on the
week of November 4th.
The House of Representatives
passed the Trade and Globalization Assistance Act of 2007 on October 31st to renew and expand Trade Adjustment Assistance as a small
step in addressing the inequities contained in the various Free Trade
Agreements already enacted. We find it
ironic and frankly disturbing that the leadership of the House continues to
support ratification of the Peru Free Trade Agreement in view of the Presidents
promised veto of the TAA bill.
The so-called consumer advantage gained by cheap imported goods is more than
offset by the resulting job losses. US wages have stagnated and the
level of inequity has reached pre-Great Depression levels. Three million
manufacturing jobs have been lost since 2001, so it is time to turn back the
wave of FTA that serve only very narrow interests in the United States.
These problems were not adequately addressed in the deal struck by Democratic
leadership and the Bush administration in May, and the final version of the
Peru Free Trade Agreement will still be harmful to workers in both the US and
Peru. Labor unions in both countries
have expressed strong opposition to the agreement.
While the Democratic leadership
espouses bipartisanship in its support of the Bush administration's Peru
agreement it is scarcely different from the DR-CAFTA agreement most Democrats
opposed in 2005. The Bush administration's veto threat represents an unwillingness on its part to even accept weak and
insufficient measures designed to minimally counter the agreement’s ill
effects.
Bipartisanship cannot be a
one-way street. In the 2006 election, US
voters elected pro-fair trade Democratic challengers around the nation to replace free trader
incumbents., thereby sending a clear
message to Congress: end the encroachment of Free Trade Agreements on US jobs
and incomes. Congressional Democrats
should show more concern for the interests and will of US voters than for an
administration that insults US workers through its unwillingness to provide
even the meager remediation offered by the Democrat's TAA bill.
Please vote NO on the Peru
Free Trade Agreement.
Sincerely,
National Organizations
Progressive Democrats of America
Local Organizations
NY Committee in Solidarity
with the People of El Salvador,
New York, NY
NYC People’s Referendum on
Free Trade, New York, NY
Polo Democratico Alternativo NY/NJ/CT
Portland Jobs with Justice, Portland, OR
Wetlands Activism Collective,
New York, NY
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