Articles and commentary are beginning to appear online concerning the passage of CAFTA. According to reports, CAFTA initially lost by five votes but the House Republicans held the vote open for an extra hour in order to secure the needed votes for passage. This mid-night extension of the vote allegedly involved plenty of arm-twisting and deal making by the Bush administration and the House Republican Leadership. Many of these side deals involved sugar, labor protection, textiles, and China, although it remains to be seen if these deals will be honored. A recent report by Public Citizen shows that 89% of the side deals negotiated to gain votes for previous trade deals have been broken.
CAFTA Articles & Commentary:
- Democracy Sold Out - CAFTA Approved by Pork and a Hill of Beans by Deborah James
- Targeting the 15 Democratic Sellouts Who Passed CAFTA by David Sirota
- House Passes Free-Trade Agreement in Tight Vote After last-minute lobbying, Bush gets a CAFTA win by Rick Klein
- Blame the Democrats: Passing CAFTA by Joshua Frank
- Central American Free Trade Agreement Approved 217-215 by Global Exchange
- Stop CAFTA Coalition Denounces CAFTA Approval
- CAFTA Approval - Was the Voting Process Skewed? - Democracy Now!
