For Immediate Release:
May 4, 2000
STATEMENT OF LORI WALLACH,
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC
CITIZEN'S GLOBAL TRADE WATCH
ON PASSAGE OF AGOA-CBI CONFERENCE
REPORT
Both the Africa bill and the CBI NAFTA expansion are highly controversial back home. This vote will be the one unpopular pre-election trade vote many Representatives can bear. Ironically, this vote improves the prospects for stopping the PNTR "blank check" for China. The lopsided final vote represents a number of Representatives who switched their votes to support the Africa-CBI package as a way to balance their imminent announcements of opposition to PNTR for China.
While Pro-Africa, AIDS, religious, labor and environmental groups opposed these bills, no lobbying was done on them for months with citizen group and labor focus shifted to the China vote.
For four years, public opposition beat the corporations trying to get this bundle of special interest trade bills through Congress. Today the special interests won -- but only after trashing the democratic process by rushing a vote on a package of special interest trade measures that Congress was not able to review in advance. Indeed, many did not realize that a 23-country NAFTA expansion and a special deal for Chiquita banana was attached to the Africa bill.
| BACKGROUND: The AGOA-CBI conference report (the bill which was voted today) was not filed until 10 this morning and no summary was prepared before the vote. The rule requiring a bill to be available 24 hours before a vote was waived. Copies of the ligislation literally were not available for Members until after the debate started. Members went to the floor thinking they were voting on an Africa bill, not knowing that a 23-country NAFTA expansion and a pile of special deals was attatched: a special Chiquita banana trade deal, a special wool suit-makers deal and a special Israeli apparel import bill. |
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