Wal-Mart Pushes CBC to Support CAFTA

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) recently took the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) to task over the CBC's willingness to build ties to Wal-Mart lobbyists. The CBC, of course, has a strong pro-labor tradition. And therefore, after reading about the controversy, I had one question: why would Wal-Mart, a company with a horrific worker rights record, think a group like the CBC would be amenable to its agenda? In other words, what does Wal-Mart want?

The answer may be found in this new Hill Newspaper story. The paper reports that a dozen high-powered corporate lobbyists - including those from Wal-Mart - are embarking on a mission to pressure CBC members to support the corporate-written Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).

These corporate lackeys likely will be making the same argument to the CBC that the shameless fat cat/moron/blowhard/jackass Dick Morris recently made. He claimed the bill is good for Hispanics. In a previous post, I've shown it is nothing of the kind. Congressional Hispanic Caucus leader Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA) agreed, telling CNN last night that the deal is very similar to NAFTA. "I can see the same pattern occurring in Central America," she said. Corporations will use CAFTA to "drive down as much as they can the wages in Central America."

Thankfully, Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D) is leading the fight against the lobbyists. And again, the CBC has been one of the most rock-solid progressive institutions in Congress, so we should be fairly confident they will hold firm and not be spun by Corporate America's specious arguments. But this just goes to show you that no lawmaker is immune from being harrassed by Big Business when it is pushing its agenda. Corporations will stop at nothing to get their way - no matter what the cost to ordinary Americans.