We won in the U.S.Senate by a vote of 54-45 on June 30!Now we need your help to win passage of the Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) in the House.Tell your U.S. Representative to vote YES on CAFTA-DR today!A vote is expected in the next two weeks.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that in just its first year, CAFTA-DR would generate $2.5 billion in new sales for American businesses, $866 million in new earnings for American workers, and at least 26,000 new jobs.In nine years, it would boost sales by more than $20 billion, raise workers’ earnings by $4.5 billion, and create more than 130,000 jobs.
However, the politically well-connected “Big Sugar” lobby opposes the agreement because it would open up a mere 1 percent of the highly protected U.S. sugar market to imports from these countries.Existing restrictions on sugar imports cost American consumers about $2 billion annually in higher prices for sugar and sugar-containing products.What’s more, while the sugar industry employs just 52,000 Americans and generates only 1 percent of U.S. farm revenue, other domestic agricultural commodities - from grains to fruits to poultry, meat, and potatoes - which employ millions of Americans nationwide, stand to reap $1.5 billion in new sales each year from CAFTA-DR, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.
Help stop this one powerful special interest from trumping the national interest.
