Vote-buying and arm-twisting: though constituents widely opposed CAFTA, the agreement passed Congress through the use of bribery, threats, and deception.(CAFTA)

The recent Senate and House votes on the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) set new lows for political prostitution, corruption, and betrayal, with the White House and Republican congressional leaders openly propositioning members in the halls of Congress with billions of dollars in federal projects, along with promises of special trade concessions--all to win passage of a misbegotten agreement that will cost America hundreds of thousands of jobs, billions of dollars in foreign aid, additional waves of illegal aliens, and further entanglement in sovereignty-destroying international regulatory regimes.

Bribe and Bludgeon

To pass CAFTA Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.), one of the White House enforcers, vowed to "twist some Republican arms until they break in a thousand pieces." He wasn't kidding. But you won't see any GOP congressmen walking around Capitol Hill with their arms in slings; most of them whimpered and caved in at the first pressure on their little pinkies. The magnitude and brazenness of the vote-buying and arm-twisting invites comparison to the 1993 vote on NAFTA. Back then it was the Clinton White House doing the dirty deals and twisting arms to push the globalist agenda for the same Power Elite who are now behind the Bush White House push for CAFTA.

When the smoke cleared after the House voted on November 17, 1993, Clinton's bribe-and-bludgeon formula had proven highly effective. He had come from behind and gotten enough members to end with a 234-200 victory. However, after more than a decade of broken NAFTA promises, devastating job losses, and a huge industry exodus from the U.S., Bush was faced with an even harder task this past year when it came to selling CAFTA, which expands NAFTA-type entanglements to cover the Dominican Republic and five Central American countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua). Organized resistance to CAFTA ranges across political parties and across the political spectrum, including agricultural, textile, and manufacturing industries, small and medium-sized businesses, labor unions, and environmentalists, as well as patriots concerned over the NAFTA/CAFTA/FTAA impact on immigration, border security, and constitutional governance.

Pork, Perks, and Posturing

The Bush administration and congressional GOP leaders applied the Clinton bribe-and-bludgeon formula with a vengeance--and didn't scruple at breaking House rules and employing deception and outright lies to win approval. In a last-ditch midnight session vote on July 27-28, the pro-CAFTA forces declared victory by a cliff-hanging two-vote margin, 217-215. But they only achieved that razor-thin margin by foul means that included crafting ridiculous cover stories for two representatives, Charles Taylor (R-N.C.) and Jo Ann Davis (R-Va.), who had pledged to vote "no," but then failed to do so at the crucial moment.

The final CAFTA fight began on the morning of Wednesday, July 27, with President Bush making a rare appearance on Capitol Hill for a closed-door session with House Republicans. Accompanying the president were Vice President Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "The last-minute negotiations for Republican votes resembled the wheeling and dealing on a car lot," the Washington Post reported on July 28. "Republicans who were opposed or undecided were courted during hurried meetings in Capitol hallways, on the House floor and at the White House. GOP leaders told their rank and file that if they wanted anything, now was the time to ask."