Bush to Sign NAFTA Expansion Bill

Bush to Sign NAFTA Expansion Bill

December 5, 2007, 4:40 pm
Filed under: 2-party system, 2008 Election, Barack Obama, chris dodd, Congress, DEBT, George Bush, Hillary Clinton, HR 3688, Illegal Immigration, job market, job outsourcing, John Edwards, John McCain, Joseph Biden, left right paradigm, NAFTA, neocons, Neolibs, North American Union, Peru, Senate

Bush to sign U.S.-Peru free-trade deal

Market Day
December 4, 2007

U.S. President George Bush said he would sign a U.S.-Peru free-trade agreement that cleared Congress Tuesday.

The Senate approved the free trade pact by a 77-18 vote.

“This agreement will level the playing field for American exporters and investors and will expand an important market in this hemisphere for U.S. goods and services, which will help strengthen economic growth and job creation in the United States,” Bush said.

“I look forward to signing this legislation into law.”

The agreement was modified in May under pressure from Democrats to take into account environmental and human rights concerns.

The deal will let more than 90 percent of U.S. products enter Peru’s growing market duty-free. Most Peruvian products already have duty-free access to the United States.

The House approved the agreement by a 285-132 vote Nov. 8.

 

As Senate’s ’08 presidential hopefuls absent, Peru free trade deal approved
Hillary, Obama and McCain absent while NAFTA expansion bill is approved

The Hill
December 5, 2007

The Senate approved a free trade agreement with Peru Tuesday that could have highlighted differences on trade among the Senate’s Democrats running for president — if any of them had been able to attend the vote.

All of the chamber’s Democratic presidential hopefuls were busy Tuesday afternoon taking part in a debate sponsored by National Public Radio, and as a result missed the vote on a controversial issue that former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) has been trying to use against his main competitors for the Democratic nomination.

Their presence would not have made a difference in the outcome. As expected, the Peru deal was easily approved, 77-18.

The deal had divided the leading contenders for the Democratic nomination. Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) had previously announced support for the Peru agreement, despite criticism from Edwards that the deal would contribute to U.S. job losses. All three are in a tight race in the first-in-the-nation caucus in Iowa, where some polls show a statistical dead heat.

Two other Democrats, Sens. Chris Dodd (Conn.) and Joseph Biden (Del.), had announced opposition to the Peru agreement.

GOP Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), another presidential candidate, also missed the vote. However, trade has been less divisive among Republicans running for president.

 

noworldsystem.com note:
This bill will:

* Continue to flood the U.S. with cheap foreign goods
* Lead to more U.S. layoffs and job outsourcing to other nations.
* Depress U.S. wages
* Increase the U.S. Trade debt
* Greatly expand the destruction of the Amazon rain forest
* Increased Animal suffering with a huge expansion of factory farms
* Increase Illegal Immigration into the U.S., as factory farms put Peruvian farmers out of business

 

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