Freedom

The CAFTA Loss—and Beyond

First thing last Thursday morning (July 29) I learned the axe had fallen: the House had passed the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) by a vote of 217-215, the slimmest margin ever for a trade accord, following a “15-minute” vote held open for an hour and not ending until past midnight—not ending, that is, until the pro-CAFTA forces got what they wanted. Word gradually filtered out about deal-cutting and arm-twisting on the part of the Bushies. And tales of “irregularities” that probably ought to be investigated. How, for example, did Charles Taylor’s (R-NC) voting card get deactivated so that it would fail to register what he insists would have been a No vote, with no one catching the error until long after he’d left the Capitol building? Posted by Editor at August 23, 2005 08:36 AM