April 16, 2008

WASHINGTON, DC - Rules Committee Ranking Republican David Dreier (R-San Dimas, CA) and several of his Republican colleagues took the floor of the House last night to discuss the importance of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and urge the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to stop blocking passage of the agreement.  Speaker Pelosi drew harsh, widespread criticism from across the country last week when she made an unprecedented change to House rules in order to prevent a vote on the Colombia agreement.  Dreier was joined by colleagues from Illinois, Texas, and California, all of whom discussed the economic opportunities workers and farmers in their states would gain from passage of the Colombia FTA.

“My original intention for this special order was to make this a bipartisan endeavor, and I had invited several of my Democratic colleagues to join us on the floor to discuss what we had seen during our travels to Colombia,” Dreier said.  “The rules of the House granted us three months for debate and deliberation prior to a vote on the Colombia FTA, and I wanted to begin that process in a bipartisan way.  Unfortunately, the landscape here in the House was dramatically altered last week when Speaker Pelosi took unprecedented action to change House rules.  In one fell swoop, she ended three months of substantive, bipartisan deliberation before it even had the chance to begin.  Apparently, she didn’t like her odds in a fair fight, so she changed the rules in the middle of the game.”

Dreier said the damage caused by the Speaker’s decision was two-fold - economic and international.  “We’re in a time of economic slowdown and deep economic anxiety.  We should be working together to create economic opportunities for American workers and businesses.  By blocking this FTA, the Democratic leadership is blocking a clear win for our exports and the workers who produce them.  Colombia already enjoys tariff-free exports to the U.S. and this agreement would have given us the same benefit.  But without it, American manufacturing exports still face tariffs of up to 35 percent and agricultural tariffs can be twice as high.  This makes no sense at all.  The second form of damage that has been done is in the international arena.  Time and again, I hear my Democratic colleagues decry what they call our diminished standing in the world.  And yet the Democratic leadership raced to sabotage our relationship with our best and closest ally in South America.  Anti-democracy dictator Hugo Chavez, leader of neighboring Venezuela, does not want this agreement to pass.  Why are we playing into his hand?”

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, California exported $320.8 million in goods to Colombia in 2007 including computers and electronic products, transportation equipment, and machinery manufactures, despite the fact it is a “one-way street” trading relationship which heavily taxes our products going into Colombia.  California’s agricultural producers also stand to benefit from passage of the agreement which would create a “two-way street” trading partnership with Colombia.  Dreier said California’s workers, businesses and farmers are a prime reason why the Speaker should do the right thing and schedule a vote on the U.S.-Colombia FTA before the August recess.

To read more about Congressman Dreier’s special order speech, please click on the following link: Text of U.S.-Colombia FTA speech.

To view Congressman Dreier's speech please click on the following link: Dial-Up/Broadband