Bush, GOP Leaders Moving for CAFTA Vote
June 12, 2005
According to this week's edition of Inside US Trade, the Bush administration is moving forward on a final vote on CAFTA despite uncertainities about the agreement. On June 6, the Office of the US Trade Represtnative delivered the draft implementing bill of CAFTA to the relevant committees and the Senate Finance Committee performed a general walk through of the bill. The Senate Finance Committee's mock markup is expected on June 14 and the House Ways and means Committee could act on CAFTA as early as June 15.
It is still unknown if the Senate Finance Committee will vote to recommend CAFTA, with Committee Chairperson Charles Grassley saying that support for the deal is "still chancy." Many expect that the administration will move CAFTA to the floor even with a negative recommendation, as they did with the United States-Austrailia Free Trade Agreement.