Senate GOP Gets Nervous About CAFTA

The Hill Newspaper this morning reports that Senate Republicans are getting nervous about the prospects of passing the Bush administration's Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has announced his opposition - a move that "underscores the serious problems Republican leaders face in lining up support within their own party to move the agreement through the Senate."

Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) is also voicing concerns: "I think the trade deficit is becoming so high and so alarming that any trade legislation is in jeopardy now, irrespective of its merits. That has to be overcome before anything is done. Otherwise, it will fail."

Still, there are some who continue to push the free trade line with ever more ridiculous logic. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), for instance, said "one of the few ways we can stop the hordes of people coming into this country by helping them become part of the free-trade agreement." In other words, instead of a trade deal that would force companies to improve wages/working conditions in Central America (and thus not force American workers to compete with near-slave wages), Hatch is openly admitting the goal of the trade deal is to export as many American jobs as possible so as to keep potential immigrants in their own country. Sure, there are immigration problems right now - but a U.S. Senator essentially admitting that a trade deal's goal is to ship jobs overseas is quite telling about where the Senate's loyalties lie.