Boehner Rebuts Pelosi, Calls Speaker's Actions to Kill Colombia Free Trade Agreement "Political Blackmail"
Washington,
Apr 10, 2008 -
House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) today refuted the flimsy and false arguments from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) during the debate over Colombia trade and criticized her unprecedented action to kill the trade agreement and place at risk countless jobs that would be created by giving American workers, farmers, and businesses access to a new market.
Before today’s vote, Speaker Pelosi used a speech on the House floor to blame the President for the trade pact’s death. According to the Speaker, the Bush Administration did not follow the “established protocol of congressional consideration” and, thus, forced her to kill the entire trade agreement.
House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) followed Speaker Pelosi on the floor and directly refuted her argument, underscoring just how much consultation there has been between the Administration, as well as both parties in Congress, to advance the Colombia free trade agreement. Boehner noted that the Administration and Congress consulted on the trade measure for 15 months and for the last six weeks entered into intense discussions over when to bring the agreement before the House. Only after the Speaker refused to make a commitment to schedule a vote on the pact, Boehner noted, was the President left with no option but to send it to Capitol Hill for a vote:
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“I think it’s time to set the record straight on exactly what has occurred. There have been hundreds and hundreds of meetings over the last 15 months on trying to come to an agreement on how this bill shall be considered. There have been changes made; there have been side agreements that have come forth as a result of this. And over the course of the last six or eight weeks there have been serious conversations between the Administration and the Speaker of the House about the consideration Colombia Free Trade Agreement."
“And the reason this bill was sent up here this week was because not one time over these six weeks has the Speaker agreed or made a commitment to the Administration that this bill will be considered this year. The President has been willing to work with the Congress and again, the conversations have gone on for 15 months, but not one time during that 15 months was there ever a commitment by the Democrat Majority to bring this bill to the floor for a vote in the House..."
“And so what do we do? We don’t go try to work to see if we can get the votes. We don’t try in a bipartisan way to move this agreement. No, we’re going to go in and cheat. We’re going to change the rules under which this free trade agreement should operate between the House and the Senate… This vote today is a vote to kill the Colombia Free Trade Agreement. Nothing more and nothing less.”
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The fact is, as Boehner later said on the House floor, the Colombia free trade agreement was killed by the Speaker and Democratic leaders as a result of “political blackmail.” And who loses? Not President Bush and his Administration. Not Republicans in Congress. No, those who stand to lose the most from today’s heavy-handed decision are American workers, farmers, and businesses who are looking toward their leaders in Washington to open new markets that would spur new American jobs. At a time when families and small businesses are facing rising costs of living and significant economic uncertainty, such a decision to escalate the House Democrats’ War on American Jobs can only be described as regrettable and irresponsible.
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