Juanson World

As expected, CAFTA passed the Senate yesterday. Unfortunately, "free trade" was not completely acheived:

To placate sugar producers, White House officials agreed to limit imports for another two years by paying Central American producers not to export to the United States. The United States would pay with surplus farm products accumulated through its other subsidy programs.

But White House officials also warned sugar producers that they could be punished for their opposition when protections under the current farm bill come up for renewal in 2007.

"Everything will get a fresh look in '07," said Vice President Dick Cheney, in a radio interview on Thursday. "Sugar will be treated the same as everybody else at that time."

Why wait until 2007? Why not eliminate the inefficient sugar subsidies now? Apparently, this administration is unwilling to risk losing seats in next year's midterm elections. Thus, it would apppear that politics stood in the way of Bush's supposed committment to free trade. This administration continues to be content to spend now and let others deal with the consequences.

There was another disturbing wrinkle to yesterday's proceedings. Apparently, the Department of Labor, which had commissioned the International Labor Rights Fund to issue a report on labor standards in Central America (almost a $1 million contract), sought to withhold the publication of said report because it was harshly critical of labor standards in the region. While I don't think that CAFTA should be perceived as a panacea for Central America, the fact that the USDOL would withhold a taxpayer funded study for political reasons is appalling.