(Washington, D.C.) – Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) President Tom Schatz today sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist urging support of S.1307, the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) Implementation Act.   Excerpts follow:

On behalf of the more than one million members and supporters of CCAGW, I urge you to support CAFTA-DR.  CAFTA-DR is in our national interest, and it is important that our elected leaders act for the public good and resist the pleadings of narrow special interests opposed to the agreement.

Increased commerce among the seven member nations of this pact will enhance consumer choice and encourage competition.  A more competitive market environment benefits every American.

Likewise, our fiscal interests are well served by this agreement.  It will not materially reduce tariff revenues, since more than 90 percent of goods from the CAFTA-DR countries already enter our customs territory duty-free as a result of existing tariff preference programs.  But these programs only work one way:  Central American and Dominican products get duty-free treatment, yet U.S. exports frequently face high tariffs.  By contrast, the CAFTA-DR will eventually eliminate duties on our exports – in effect, a tax reduction for American products.  U.S. exports will grow as a result of this gradual tax phase-out.

Big Sugar continues to oppose the agreement despite the sweet deal they have received: in the first year in which the agreement becomes effective, additional sugar quota would represent less than 1 percent of total U.S. sugar supply and less than 7 percent of total imports.  In light of the special treatment Big Sugar has already received, it is troubling that the Bush Administration might further sweeten the pot by offering further concessions.  We urge extreme caution in any discussions involving sugar, and oppose further limits on imports or forcing taxpayers or consumers to pay the cost of any concession. 

Again, I would like to reiterate CCAGW’s support for CAFTA-DR as well as our opposition to the exclusion of so-called politically sensitive products or sectors of the economy in trade agreements.  We would like all senators to be aware that the vote on CAFTA-DR will be among those considered in CCAGW’s 2005 Congressional Ratings.

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.