House to vote on delaying Colombia trade deal

[Ron Burgundy]

Reuters - Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives announced plans on Wednesday to indefinitely delay action on a free trade pact with Colombia, likely frustrating President George W. Bush's hope of winning approval of the agreement this year.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took the action after Bush ignored her warning that sending the controversial agreement to Congress this week would be a "mistake."

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino called the move an "awful precedent" that would that would impair the ability of future presidents to negotiate trade deals "because countries will not be able to have faith in our word."

She said Democrats were trying to defeat the agreement without taking a straight up-or-down vote on the pact itself.

"It is clear that there are many in the Democratic Party who would like to kill this deal and they want to do so without having to have their fingerprints on it," Perino said.

Pelosi told reporters Congress needed more time to work out problems with the Colombia trade deal, which have centered on human rights and worker protections.

But she also made clear that helping the struggling U.S. economy was a higher priority right now.

"First and foremost here is to look out for the concerns of the United States," Pelosi said, adding, "We take this action with deep respect for the people of Colombia."

Colombia's vice president, Francisco Santos, warned that failure to approve the trade pact would be a "slap in the face" to Colombia and could affect relations with the United States.

PACT 'HOSTAGE' OF CAMPAIGNING

In an interview with the German newspaper Handelsblatt, he said, "Our free trade pact has become hostage to political campaigning."

Bush submitted the Colombia trade deal to Congress on Tuesday after trying for months to work out a bipartisan agreement with Pelosi to ensure approval of the pact.

U.S. labor groups, a key Democratic party constituency, strongly oppose the Colombia free trade agreement on the grounds that Colombia has not done enough to stop killings of trade unionists and bring their murderers to justice.

U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said Democrats were changing the rules for considering trade pacts "in the middle of the game" and said the move would have a "devastating" effect on the U.S. ability to negotiate future agreements.

Schwab's office negotiated the Colombia agreement under the terms of legislation passed by Congress in 2002 that is known as trade promotion authority. That law requires Congress to approve or reject trade agreements within 90 days of receiving them from Congress and bars any amendments.

Pelosi said the House would vote on Thursday on a proposal to eliminate the 90-day deadline for action under trade promotion authority, which has been used by presidents to pass trade agreements for more than three decades.

Pelosi refused to say when a vote on the actual pact would occur, noting that it depends on whether there are "good faith" negotiations with the administration on fixing problems.

Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, the fourth-ranking House Democrat, said Congress' No. 1 priority was to "make sure our economic house is in order."

The vote on Thursday to change the rules is likely to succeed in the Democratic-controlled House. Many members might welcome not having to cast votes on the Colombia pact in this election year.

Schwab said the Bush administration has honored "every single obligation" under trade promotion authority for negotiating the Colombia agreement and submitting it to Congress.

However, Congress has refused to hold even one hearing on the agreement since it was signed in November 2006, she said.

"To change the rules of debate for how we consider these free trade policies in the middle of the game is cheating, pure and simple," House Minority Leader John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, said.

(Additional reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Jackie Frank, Kieran Murray and Eric Walsh)

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080409/pl_nm/usa_trade_colombia_dc [link]