(Washington, D.C.) – On behalf of its more than one million members and supporters, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today endorsed legislation to implement the Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR).  The Senate Finance Committee holds its first hearing today on the accord that would create a free trade area covering the United States, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.  CCAGW President Tom Schatz released the following statement:

CCAGW commends President George Bush for the fact that CAFTA-DR is a comprehensive agreement that does not exclude so-called politically sensitive products or sectors of the economy. Excluding specific products or sectors from trade negotiations leads to reduced market access for Americans  particularly for the agriculture industry  rendering the agreement useless in the long run.

Furthermore, now that all of the other CAFTA-DR signatories have ratified the agreement, CCAGW calls on Congress to ratify this comprehensive agreement and to reject any attempts to exclude any products from the CAFTA-DR. Otherwise, the agreement itself will be jeopardized, with costly consequences.

Commercially, CAFTA-DR represents the United States’ twelfth largest export market, our second largest export market in the region, and our sixth fastest growing export market.  U.S. agriculture will be one of the primary beneficiaries of CAFTA-DR, with exports to CAFTA-DR estimated to increase by almost $900 million in the first year of the agreement.

CCAGW urges Congress to reject any exclusions or new negotiations that would undermine this agreement.  CCAGW’s continuing support for CAFTA-DR, as is the case with all future trade agreements, depends upon it remaining inclusive of all sectors and products. 

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation's largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.