June 30,2005

Grassley on Senate Passage of CAFTA Implementing Bill

M E M O R A N D U M

To: Reporters and Editors
Re: Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement implementationbill
Da: Thursday, June 30, 2005

Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Committee on Finance, today made the following comment on final Senate passage of the CAFTA implementing bill. The measure came out of the Finance Committee earlier this week.

“This agreement levels the playing field for U.S. exporters. Farmers, ranchers, manufacturers,and service providers in Iowa and nationwide will get a better trade deal in CAFTA countries thanwhat they have today.

“Six months ago people said this agreement was a non-starter. Now a majority of senatorsthink it’s a no-brainer. It’s halfway to becoming the law of the land. A strong Senate vote givesmomentum for a solid House vote. It looks like the President will have the bill on his desk thissummer. It was initially an uphill climb, but once the facts were out, members could see theagreement was very much in our economic and national security interests. They looked beyond therhetoric and endorsed the bill with strong bipartisan support. Passage sends a strong signal to ourtrading partners that the United States remains engaged in Latin America and deeply committed toopening markets globally.”