Marsha Blackburn Supports Sending Your Jobs Overseas

U.S.-Singapore Trade.

This bill (H.R. 2739) would implement a trade agreement to reduce tariffs and trade barriers between the United States and Singapore. A similar bill, the U.S.-Chile Trade Agreement (H.R. 2738), was presented to Congress at the same time as the U.S.-Singapore Trade Agreement. These are the first in a series of bilateral and regional free trade agreements (FTAs) that the Bush administration is negotiating, which will culminate in 2005 in the largest and most significant FTA of them all, the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). The model for the FTAA is the European Union (EU), formerly the “Common Market,” which has grown by design from a supposed free trade agreement into a supranational government for Europe.
The world order architects intend for the FTAA to follow the same trajectory for the Americas. The House passed H.R. 2739 on July 24, 2003 by a vote of 272 to 155 (Roll Call 432).

Marsha Blackburn Voted FOR this bill.
108-2 (Source: The New American, December 29, 2003)


U.S.-Chile Trade.

This bill (H.R. 2738) would implement a trade agreement to reduce tariffs and trade barriers between the United States and Chile. The significance of this trade agreement is like that of the U.S.-Singapore Trade Agreement described above. The House passed H.R. 2738 on July 24, 2003 by a vote of 270 to 156 (Roll Call 436).

Marsha Blackburn Voted FOR this bill.
108-2 (Source: The New American, December 29, 2003)

WTO Withdrawal.

Representatives Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Ron Paul (R-Texas) sponsored this measure (House Joint Resolution 27) to withdraw the United States from the World Trade Organization. The WTO is often portrayed as a “free trade” arrangement by its supporters, but it is actually an international bureaucracy that manages trade and imposes its rulings on member nations including the United States — even when those rulings are contrary to U.S. laws. In fact, U.S. membership in the WTO is unconstitutional, since under our Constitution, Congress — not an international body — “shall have the power … to regulate foreign commerce.” That power cannot be transferred short of a constitutional amendment. The House rejected the WTO withdrawal measure on June 9, 2005 by a vote of 86-338 (Roll Call 239).

Marsha Blackburn Voted AGAINST this bill.
109-1 (Source: The New American, August 8, 2005)

CAFTA.

This bill (H.R. 3045) would implement the proposed Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), thereby expanding the devastating consequences of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), including the job losses wrought by NAFTA. CAFTA is intended by the Power Elite to be a steppingstone from NAFTA to the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), which would include all of the countries of the Western Hemisphere except (for now) Cuba. Like NAFTA, which has already begun imposing its trade rulings on America, CAFTA
and the FTAA would not be genuine free trade arrangements; they would instead manage trade and would gradually exercise more powers on the road to a supranational government modeled after the European Union.

The House passed CAFTA on July 28, 2005 by a vote of 217-215 (Roll Call 443).

Marsha Blackburn Voted FOR this bill.
109-2 (Source: The New American, December 12, 2005)

Oman Trade Agreement.

The Oman Free Trade Agreement (H.R. 5684) would reduce most tariffs and duties between Oman and the United States H.R. 5684 was considered under fast track authority, which requires Congress to expedite consideration of presidentially negotiated trade pacts without offering amendments. The Oman agreement is just one steppingstone in the White House’s effort to form a Middle Eastern Free Trade Area (MEFTA) by 2013. These so-called free trade agreements have historically failed because they encourage the relocation of U.S. jobs to foreign countries so that the companies can get cheap labor. Meanwhile, they don’t provide the United States with trade benefits — largely because the people in those countries cannot afford to buy our products — hereby harming the U.S. economy. The agreements also put our economic
destiny in the hands of unelected foreign bureaucrats, such as those at the World Trade Organization. The House passed H.R. 5684 by a vote of 221-205 on July 20, 2006 (Roll Call 392). Such trade agreements damage the U.S. economy and threaten U.S. sovereignty by the imposition of international regulations.

Marsha Blackburn Voted FOR this bill.
(Source: The New American - October 30, 2006)

Peru Free Trade Agreement.

The Peru Free Trade Agreement (H.R. 3688) is another in a series of free-trade agreements to transfer the power to regulate trade (and other powers as well) to regional arrangements. Other examples include the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). However, the Committee on Ways and Means Report accompanying H.R. 3688 noted that “the Peru FTA has become the first U.S. free trade agreement to include, in its core text fully enforceable commitments by the Parties to adopt, maintain, and enforce basic international labor standards, as stated in the 1988 ILO
Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.” The ILO, or International Labor
Organization, is a UN agency. The House passed the bill by a vote of 285-132 (Roll Call 1060) on
November 8, 2007. The Peru FTA and other so-called free-trade arrangements threaten our national independence and (as we’ve seen with NAFTA) harm our economy.

Marsha Blackburn voted FOR this bill.
(Source: The New American – December 10, 2007)