(The Washington Post published the following story by Dan Morgan on its website on July 25.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The House yesterday approved the Bush administration’s trade agreements with Chile and Singapore, overriding claims by labor groups and others that freer global markets have siphoned away U.S. jobs.
The vote for the Chile agreement was 270 to 156. The House approved the Singapore agreement 272 to 155. Most business groups support the measures, saying they would open new markets, especially for U.S. service industries, and protect high-technology companies from patent and copyright infringement.
The Senate, where support for global free trade is strong, could take up the measures next week.
Administration officials said yesterday’s votes will give momentum to negotiations for similar arrangements with countries in Central and South America. The White House hopes to complete the talks as early as the end of the year.
Democrats led the House opposition to the Chile and Singapore measures. “It’s time for us to stand up and defend the few good-paying jobs we have left in this country,” Rep. Fortney “Pete” Stark (D-Calif.) said. Twenty-seven Republicans also voted against each measure, and some lawmakers said unease about the impact of global free trade on the nation’s economy is rising in Congress.
Business groups have expressed concern about the widening U.S. trade imbalance with China and its impact on U.S. manufacturers. Some are pressing Congress and the administration to reassess Chinese barriers to U.S. products.
“I am becoming less and less of a free trader,” said Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), who voted against both measures. “It’s becoming apparent to me that the kind of agreements we’ve entered into in the last five years have not accrued to the benefit of the American worker. . . . All we’ve done is kowtow to multinational corporations and their desire to reduce labor costs.”
Tancredo and other Republicans say they are especially concerned about provisions in the trade measures that make it easy for foreign professional workers brought to the United States by multinational companies to renew their visas indefinitely. They contend that the administration is undercutting immigration laws in trade agreements even as thousands of highly skilled U.S. professional workers have lost their jobs.
In other actions yesterday, the House passed a $17.1 billion foreign aid spending bill, providing money for economic and military assistance, peacekeeping and global efforts to combat AIDS. The bill is $1.7 billion below the amount requested by President Bush.
After several days of backroom bargaining over 2004 spending for Amtrak, the House Appropriations Committee restored $320 million that a subcommittee last week cut from the budget of the passenger rail system. The committee recommended $900 billion, the amount Bush had requested. Even so, the figure represents a cut of more than 10 percent from this year’s level.
Rep. Ernest J. Istook Jr. (R-Okla.), chairman of the committee’s transportation panel, had recommended the deeper cut, but he agreed to restore the funds after a bipartisan outcry.