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"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource."
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House Approves Free Trade Pact With Central American Nations
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Issue
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| Contributor | Ben |
| Last Edited | Ben Jul 28, 2005 09:44am |
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| Category | News |
| Media | Newspaper - New York Times |
| News Date | Thursday, July 28, 2005 03:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | The House of Representatives narrowly approved the Central American Free Trade Agreement early Thursday, allowing President Bush to put his signature to the nation's biggest reduction of trade barriers in more than 10 years.
After one of the hardest-fought legislative battles of the year, Republican leaders were able to cut enough political deals to overcome fears among many of their own members about foreign competition and push ahead despite opposition from most Democrats, labor unions and the sugar industry's powerful lobby.
The vote, 217 to 215, came almost a month after the Senate approved the trade pact and gave Mr. Bush a crucial victory that had seemed in doubt a few days ago. As recently as Tuesday, fewer than half of Republican lawmakers had publicly endorsed the pact and almost all Democrats were planning to vote against it.
But the end result did not come without some drama. The voting took almost an hour as Republicans pressured about 8 to 10 members. The count seemed to stall after about 30 minutes with the tally at 214 in favor and 211 against, and a handful of votes outstanding. |
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