The House of Representatives has scheduled a debate and vote on the implementing legislation for the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). The vote, which will likely come in the late hours of the night, is still expected to be very close. President Bush is having a closed meeting with Republican Representatives today in an effort to secure additional votes for the deal, while the White House and Republican leadership continue to offer a variety of deals and “side agreements” to gain votes [1, 2]. The vote is expected to be very close, but opponents are still optimistic that CAFTA will be defeated. Over the past few weeks the Bush administration has made some progress in gaining votes for the deal, but they are still believed to be short of the necessary total and many CAFTA supporters have begun to frame CAFTA as being necessary for the “war on terror.”

Local Congressperson Vern Ehlers has still not announced his position on CAFTA, with his most recent position being reported a couple weeks ago in the Grand Rapids Business Journal as “undecided.”

The local Stop CAFTA Campaign is still asking that people call Ehlers today to register their opposition. The United Steelworkers have setup a toll free number to reach Congress, callers simply call 1-866-340-9281 and when they get connected to the Capitol Switchboard, ask for the office of Vern Ehlers. A script that can be used for the call-in is available online.