Vote-buying and arm-twisting: though constituents widely opposed CAFTA, the agreement passed Congress through the use of bribery, threats, and deception.

The recent Senate and House votes on the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) set new lows for political prostitution, corruption, and betrayal, with the White House and Republican congressional leaders openly propositioning members in the halls of Congress with billions of dollars in federal projects, along with promises of special trade concessions--all to win passage of a misbegotten agreement that will cost America hundreds of thousands of jobs, billions of dollars in foreign aid, additional waves of illegal aliens, and further entanglement in sovereignty-destroying international regulatory regimes.

Bribe and Bludgeon

To pass CAFTA Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.), one of the White House enforcers, vowed to "twist some Republican arms until they break in a thousand pieces." He wasn't kidding. But you won't see any GOP congressmen walking around Capitol Hill with their arms in slings; most of them whimpered and caved in at the first pressure on their little pinkies. The magnitude and brazenness of the vote-buying and arm-twisting invites comparison to the 1993 vote on NAFTA. Back then it was the Clinton White House doing the dirty deals and twisting arms to push the globalist agenda for the same Power Elite who are now behind the Bush White House push for CAFTA.

When the smoke cleared after the House voted on November 17, 1993, Clinton's bribe-and-bludgeon formula had proven highly effective. He had come from behind and gotten enough members to end with a 234-200 victory. However, after more than a decade of broken NAFTA promises, devastating job losses, and a huge industry exodus from the U.S., Bush was faced with an even harder task this past year when it came to selling CAFTA, which expands NAFTA-type entanglements to cover the Dominican Republic and five Central American countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua). Organized resistance to CAFTA ranges across political parties and across the political spectrum, including agricultural, textile, and manufacturing industries, small and medium-sized businesses, labor unions, and environmentalists, as well as patriots concerned over the NAFTA/CAFTA/FTAA impact on immigration, border security, and constitutional governance.

Pork, Perks, and Posturing

The Bush administration and congressional GOP leaders applied the Clinton bribe-and-bludgeon formula with a vengeance--and didn't scruple at breaking House rules and employing deception and outright lies to win approval. In a last-ditch midnight session vote on July 27-28, the pro-CAFTA forces declared victory by a cliff-hanging two-vote margin, 217-215. But they only achieved that razor-thin margin by foul means that included crafting ridiculous cover stories for two representatives, Charles Taylor (R-N.C.) and Jo Ann Davis (R-Va.), who had pledged to vote "no," but then failed to do so at the crucial moment.

The final CAFTA fight began on the morning of Wednesday, July 27, with President Bush making a rare appearance on Capitol Hill for a closed-door session with House Republicans. Accompanying the president were Vice President Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "The last-minute negotiations for Republican votes resembled the wheeling and dealing on a car lot," the Washington Post reported on July 28. "Republicans who were opposed or undecided were courted during hurried meetings in Capitol hallways, on the House floor and at the White House. GOP leaders told their rank and file that if they wanted anything, now was the time to ask."

According to Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), one of the 27 Republicans who voted against CAFTA, the vote-buying price tag may end up being $50 billion or more. Most of the bribery is hidden away in projects funded by the massive energy and transportation appropriation bills. House rules required two hours of debate on CAFTA, followed by a 15-minute period for voting. The debate began at 9:00 p.m. and ended at 10:59 p.m. But when the 15-minute voting period concluded, the pro-CAFTA side didn't have the votes. CAFTA was defeated by a vote of 175 to 180. However, the vote was held open in violation of the rules as the leadership coerced and propositioned wavering representatives, a few of whom delayed voting to see if they could vote no, thereby pleasing their constituents, without derailing CAFTA's passage.

"The voting took almost an hour as Republicans pressured about 8 to 10 members," recounted the New York Times. "For the next half-hour, Republicans, mostly from textile states, jockeyed over who would be allowed to vote against the bill and save face back home."

Taking One for the Team

Representatives were reporting that mail and calls from constituents were running as high as 30 to 1 against CAFTA. While all wanted the pork and perks offered by the White House, they also wanted, as the Times put it, to "be allowed to vote against the bill and save face back home." Obviously, some would have to fall on their swords, not for the good of the country, but for the good of the party. One of the critical "volunteers" was Rep. Robin Hayes (R-N.C.), who had posed as an unyielding, unalterable CAFTA opponent. Alter initially voting no, Hayes changed his vote to yes at the last minute. Hayes said he only flip-flopped after House Speaker Dennis Hasten "promised to do more for the embattled textile industry." Hayes cast the 216th "yes" vote.

Like Hayes, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) put on a front of solid opposition to CAFTA, which will all but kill the textile industry in his district. He too had a last-hour epiphany. Wilson said he switched to a "yes" vote after concluding that "side agreements to the treaty would protect South Carolina textile jobs." Moreover, Wilson told the press in his home state, he had become "increasingly convinced in the past week that CAFTA is needed to bolster security and stability within and beyond CAFTA nations."

The final and 217th vote was provided by Rep. Steven C. LaTourette, (R-Ohio), who told the Washington Post that as pressure mounted in the final minutes, he "realized he was one of those chosen to 'take one for the team.'"

Reps. Charles Taylor and Jo Ann Davis, apparently, were also "chosen" but were allowed to "take one for the team" without actually going on record for CAFTA. According to Taylor he voted with a "defective" voting card that didn't register, then left the House without realizing the problem and therefore was unavailable to recast his vote. Afterward, Taylor was "outraged" that his vote had not registered and insisted he had remained a solid "no" on CAFTA. Rep. Davis was not available for the crucial vote, said she, because she had left the House to visit the Boy Scout Jamboree in Virginia and had gotten trapped in traffic. Her excuse overlooks the fact that the vote was planned for the day she left town, and the vote was finalized near mid night when there isn't much traffic. Veteran House staffers we consulted pointed out obvious credibility problems and inconsistencies with both the Taylor and Davis stories. "I think it's pretty transparent to everybody on the Hill that they [Taylor and Davis] were conveniently absent," as part of a deal with the GOP leadership, one Republican staffer who had been at the heart of the CAFTA battle told THE NEW AMERICAN.

The Bush administration has openly acknowledged that CAFTA's primary purpose is to provide impetus for eventual passage of the much larger FTAA. But the incredible political capital that the pro-CAFTA side was forced to expend on CAFTA points out the even greater difficulty that they will have with the FFAA plan to economically and politically integrate the entire hemisphere. "Opposition to this scheme continues to build," says John F. McManus, national chairman of The John Birch Society's Stop the FTAA campaign. "The CAFTA vote and the desperate measures taken to obtain it actually show that we can defeat FTAA."