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Thursday, November 08, 2007
HOUSE PASSES PERU TRADE DEAL WITH A STRONG BIPARTISAN VOTE
REP. BECERRA: ‘It is our chance to prove that trade is an American agenda, not a political agenda, not a partisan agenda’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – This morning, the United States House of Representatives passed H.R. 3688, United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act, by a strong bipartisan vote of 285 to 132. Representative Xavier Becerra (CA-31), the Assistant to the Speaker of the House and the only congressional member from Southern California on the Committee on Ways and Means, voted for the bill.
“This is a chance for us to work together not as Republicans, not as Democrats, but as Americans to move forward an agenda for the people who work in this country who produce so many of those goods, for the people who produce all of those phenomenal products that make this a great nation,” Rep. Becerra said during last night’s debate of H.R. 3688. “It is our chance to prove that trade is an American agenda, not a political agenda, not a partisan agenda.
Of the 285 members who voted for the legislation, 109 were Democrats. “Today’s vote was one of the strongest Democratic showings on a trade agreement going back to the Clinton Administration,” Rep. Becerra said.
Below is a chart that breaks down the roll calls of trade agreements and major legislation going back to NAFTA:
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Vote Total |
Democratic Total |
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Date |
Bill # |
Agreement |
YEA |
NAY |
YEA |
NAY |
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11/17/1993 |
H.R. 3450 |
NAFTA |
234 |
200 |
102 |
156 |
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9/24/2001 |
H.R. 2603 |
Jordan |
voice vote |
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7/24/2003 |
H.R. 2738 |
Chile |
270 |
156 |
75 |
128 |
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7/24/2003 |
H.R. 2739 |
Singapore |
272 |
155 |
75 |
127 |
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7/14/2004 |
H.R. 4759 |
Australia |
314 |
109 |
116 |
84 |
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7/22/2004 |
H.R. 4842 |
Morocco |
323 |
99 |
120 |
80 |
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7/28/2005 |
H.R. 3045 |
DR - CAFTA |
217 |
215 |
15 |
187 |
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12/7/2005 |
H.R. 4340 |
Bahrain |
327 |
95 |
115 |
81 |
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7/20/2006 |
H.R. 5684 |
Oman |
221 |
205 |
22 |
176 |
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11/8/2007 |
H.R. 3688 |
Peru |
285 |
132 |
109 |
116 |
“And in this deal, we find improvements were made that for the first time in the history of this congress will give us a chance to vote on something that says that we will treat workers as well as we treat widgets,” Rep. Becerra said last night during debate. “We will treat people as well as we treat products. We will protect our workers as well as we protect these widgets. That is something we have never done before on the floor of this House. For me, that makes this deal worth voting for because while we would like to do much better, the perfect should not get in the way of making progress.”
 Click here to watch Rep. Becerra’s floor speech on H.R. 3688.
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