CAFTA, the Central American Free Trade Agreement, passed the U.S. Senate yesterday. This trade agreement is a lot like the infamous NAFTA agreement of 11 years ago in that it will displace American workers and empower corporations with new extralegal rights in America as well as Central America. However, passage is not assured in the House because elected representatives are aware of voter backlash on free trade. The trade pact emerged in the wake of the failed FTAA talks in Miami, and if it is defeated both CAFTA and FTAA may be off-the-horizon for quite some time.


The Steelworkers have set up a toll free number for you to call your representative and Senators: 1-866-340-9281. Also email them by finding their Web sites online. The House of Representatives is on recess until July 11, and the vote will become sometime between July 11 and Aug. 1.

A good article on CAFTA can be found at COMMONDREAMS at:
www.commondreams.org/views05/0701-28.htm.

Calling your rep. is better than doing nothing and such citizen campaigns have worked before. For instance, the USDA Organic Standard approval process of the late 1990s produced strong regulations after a weak draft report because of 300,000 citizen letters and postcards. The Roadless Rule in the National Forests that the Bush administration has spent 5 years trying to get rid of were only put in place because of citizen lobbying backing up the efforts of a few pro-environment policy makers.