The elected leaders who voted against working people last night when they voted for the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) should be ashamed.

The 15 Democrats and the 202 Republicans who voted for CAFTA voted against American jobs.  They voted against decent treatment for our Dominican and Central American brothers and sisters, and they voted against working families.

Many of those who voted for CAFTA late last night know better.  They know CAFTA won’t magically end poverty or terrorism or illegal immigration.  They know that CAFTA will send more decent-paying American jobs offshore, not create significant new export markets.  They know that CAFTA will do nothing to improve U.S. competitiveness and stem our intractable trade deficit.  But in the end, it wasn’t the arguments that won the CAFTA vote. 

Those Republicans who voted for CAFTA chose party loyalty and corporate bucks over their constituents. 

Those Democrats who voted for CAFTA sided with big business over the working men and women who walked their neighborhoods, staffed their phone banks, and worked hard to put them in office. 

We thank the vast majority of the Democrats in the House (93% of the caucus) and the 27 Republicans who voted with us, and the many great friends who worked tirelessly to keep this deal in limbo for more than a year.  We commend the work of Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi for ensuring that the fewest number of House Democrats ever supported a flawed trade deal, but we know that much work remains to be done.

We have made tremendous progress in bringing the issues of fairness and workers’ rights to the center of the trade debate.  We have built a formidable progressive transnational alliance with trade unions, people of faith, human rights advocates, small farmers, environmentalists, and advocates for the poor in Central America and elsewhere, and we will continue to strengthen that alliance.

And we will work harder than ever to ensure that America’s trade policies reflect the values and protect the interests of America’s working families, and create a foundation for a truly just global economy.

The labor movement will remember this vote. 

Contact: Esmeralda Aguilar (202) 230-4726