National Legislation
NATIONAL LEGISLATION
The Constitution Party is very concerned about the trend of the White House and Congress in passing liberal legislation. Much of this legislation is aimed at increasing our huge deficit, globalization and giving up U.S. sovereignty. In the next session of Congress subjects which we should follow closely and let our voices be heard by Congress are discussed in the remainder of this section.
Huge Federal Budget and Deficits – “The Republicans during President Bush’s administration have taken government spending to unprecedented new heights, far beyond the most extravagant fancies of Bill Clinton and his big-spending Democratic cronies.
Appalling as the Clinton Administration was, it at least managed to significantly reduce the astronomical deficits racked up during the go-go 1980s. Of course, Clinton and company achieved this partly by raising taxes, to the dismay of the long-suffering middle class. But taxes are at least an honest way to pay for big government. Deficit spending, long favored by a Republican establishment that likes to masquerade as champions of smaller government and freer enterprise, is a thoroughly dishonest way of buying the votes of those whose children will eventually have to pay the fiscal piper….As American Conservative Union Chairman David A. Keene pointed out, ‘Excluding military and homeland security, American taxpayers have witnessed the largest spending increase under any preceding president and Congress since the Great Depression.’ Tom Schatz of Citizens Against Government Waste announced that his group will soon be releasing a list of $2 trillion in proposed federal budget cuts.
Think about that. There are trillions in unnecessary spending sloshing around official Washington, and the Republican leadership claims to be out of options for budget cuts!...It has been estimated that, were the federal government to return to spending within the strict Constitutional limits of its enumerated powers, the deficits and debts would rapidly disappear, and budget surpluses would become the norm. But until the American electorate begins to hold its elected leaders to their oath of allegiance to the Constitution, big spenders and debt addicts of both major parties will continue to propel America towards national insolvency and economic meltdown.” [1]
“In 1994 Republicans swept into power with the promise of fiscal responsibility. At the time total government outlays were $1.46 trillion. In 2004, ten years into the ‘Republican Revolution,’ government outlays had increased to $2.29 trillion. Congress has lost its way. The recently passed highway bill surpassed President Bush’s requested funding level by $2.5 billion. However, abandoning veto threats and fiscal discipline, President Bush signed the legislation into law. In 1987 President Reagan vetoed a transportation bill that had 187 ‘earmarks’ (generally pork barrel spending requested by one member). The 2005 transportation bill, H.R. 3, has 6,500 such earmarks – at a total cost of $24 billion. Some of these pork-laden projects are enough to make anyone turn vegetarian. For example, fifty Alaskan residents on Gravina Island will be getting $220 million for a bridge (that is $4.4 million per resident). The legislation is jammed with such bridge projects, bike paths, hiking trails, landscaping plans and even a few ferry boats – all generously subsidized by federal taxpayers. To quote humorist Will Rogers, ‘This county has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer.’ Clearly the best way to get Congress to curb spending is by starving it. If families are allowed to keep more of the money they have earned, then Washington will have to learn to live within the same budget.’ [2]
“Before adjourning its 2004 session, Congress increased the national debt limit to $8.184 trillion. The increase was approved as the Federal Government was about to exceed the prior debt limit of $7.384 trillion. How’s that for fiscal responsibility? When George W. Bush became President, the national debt was less than $6 trillion. At his urging, the debt limit was raised by $450 billion in 2002, and another $984 billion in 2003, and then another$830 billion in 2004. Onward and upward. Unfortunately, debt has to be paid, and when the chickens have come home to roost, it will be too late to white wash the walls!” [3]
“The United States imported a record amount of foreign oil in June and shipments of Chinese clothing and textiles soared, too, pushing the nation’s monthly trade deficit to the third-highest level in history.”[4]
“Through the first six months of this year, the deficit with China is 32 percent higher than the same period in 2004, a year when the trade gap with China hit a record of $162 billion, the highest amount with any country.
Imports of clothing and textiles were up 39.2 percent in June from May and are 57.6 percent higher for the first six months of this year, compared to last year, reflecting the lifting of global textile and clothing quotas on Jan. 1. That helped to push the June deficit with China to a record $17.6 billion.
The U.S. textile industry says 25,000 jobs have been lost so far this year because of the surge in imports from China and they are appealing to President Bush for relief.” [5]
“The overall trade deficit is running at an annual rate of $686 billion this year, up from last year’s record of $617.6 billion.
And analysts are forecasting that not only will this year’s deficit set new a record but the trade gap in 2006 will be even higher, reflecting the rising oil bill, the surge in Chinese imports and a weak global economy that has hurt sales of U.S. exports.” [6]
“With the record trade deficits and the continued loss of jobs in manufacturing – declines that total 3 million since mid-2000 – the administration has found it harder to pursue its efforts of expanding trade by reaching new free trade agreements with other countries.” [7]
Immigration and Security – Legal and illegal immigration are seriously impacting the security and sovereignty of our country and cost of government. Hospitals in the Southwest are going bankrupt because they are forced by the Federal Government to treat everyone including illegal residents. Medicaid and public school costs are going through the roof in the Southwest due to a flood of immigrants – most of which are illegal.
“This disregard with which the Bush Administration treats the illegal alien problem is illustrated by its failure to act promptly against National Coating, Inc., a defense contractor that paints and sandblasts U.S. Navy ships. In April, 2005, it was discovered that the company had in its employ 86 illegal aliens, more than half of the company’s 167 work force. A staff writer for the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that: ‘In keeping with the recent trend in work-site enforcement, the employer faces no immediate criminal or civil penalties, although an investigation is pending.’ Meanwhile, the contractor continues to feed from the public trough at the taxpayer’s expense.” [7A]
The George Bush Administration believes that the answer to this question is to send our troops to every county’s borders but our own. “The U.S. has stationed troops in 135 of the world’s 192 countries. How’s that for homeland security?” [7B]
“There are about 11 million illegal immigrants in America. It would take a lot of buses - 200,000 of them, bumper-to-bumper in a convoy 1,700 miles long – to carry them back to America’s border.” [8]
Trade Agreements and Deficits – The Republican White House and Congress have entered into a number of trade agreements which have resulted in exporting American jobs and plants to low labor cost countries. These agreements include GTO, NAFTA and CAFTA.
“American textile and clothing manufacturers contend that 19 textile plants have shut down this year because of the import surge and 26,000 jobs in textile and clothing plants have disappeared.” [9]
“Some trade experts wonder how many U.S. jobs can be saved even if a comprehensive agreement is reached. Note that since 2001, U.S. clothing and textile manufacturers have lost 389,400 jobs – 37 percent of the total work force.” [10]
“Wednesday, July 27, 2005, is a day that will live in infamy! The Republican-controlled house in the Congress gave the green light to multinational corporations to move more U.S. jobs to low wage countries in Central America! This will guarantee more American families will fall into poverty. N.A.F.T.A. caused the loss of 3.4 million manufacturing jobs in the U.S. The lies promulgated by Wall Street bankers and multinational corporations have resulted in the transfer of 2,000 U.S. plants to Mexico! 50,000 farmers have gone out of business since 1994! The Republican Party is no longer the party of Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Calvin Coolidge. It is the party controlled by an international consortium of banks and corporations!...America needs a new political party ‘of the people, by the people, and for the people.’ I would suggest that everyone consider joining the Constitution Party, ‘The Peoples Party.’ THANK YOU” [11]
“Jack McLain, Vice-Chairman of the Constitution Party of Florida, has strongly condemned approval by Congress of the Dominican Republic – Central American – U.S. Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). Seventeen Florida members of Congress voted for the CAFTA agreement, and McLain says, ‘they must be replaced by patriots who love American freedom, free enterprise, and sovereignty.
The CAFTA “free trade’ agreement has little to do with free trade, and much to do with massive government intervention into trade regulations,’ McLain contends. ‘it is really an outsourcing agreement which will destroy many thousands of American jobs, as NAFTA has in the past, allowing American industries a larger slave work force.’
McLain believes that CAFTA will encourage open borders, leading to a flooding of the U.S. with unskilled labor, and drug and terrorist importations. ‘A country without secure borders ceases to be a nation,’ he says.
McLain predicts that ‘CAFTA is a certain step toward the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) which is proposed to include a union of 34 nations in this hemisphere with open borders and the eventual ravaging of our nation. Under the coercive influence of the Bush administration,’ McLain says, ‘Congress has now placed America a step closer to global government.’” [12]
“The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) has just let the cat out of the bag about what’s really behind our trade agreements and security partnerships with the other North American countries. A 59-page CFR document spells out a five-year plan for the ‘establishment by 2010 of a North American economic and security community’ with a common ‘outer security perimeter.’
‘Community’ means integrating the United States with the corruption, socialism, poverty and population of Mexico and Canada. ‘Common perimeter’ means wide-open U.S. borders between the U.S. Mexico and Canada. ‘Community’ is sometimes called ‘space’ but the CFR goal is clear: ‘a common economic space…for all people in the region, a space in which trade, capital, and people flow freely.’ The CFR’s ‘integrated’ strategy calls for ‘a more open border for the movement of goods and people.’
The CFR document lays ‘the groundwork for the freer flow of people within North America.’ The ‘common security perimeter’ will require us to ‘harmonize visa and asylum regulations’ with Mexico and Canada, ‘harmonize entry screening,’ and ‘fully share data about exit and entry of foreign nationals.’”[13]
“The CFR plan called ‘Building a North American Community’ did not mention the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), but it is obvious that it is part of the scheme. This was made clear by the Senate Republican Policy Committee policy paper released in June 2005. It argued that Congress should pass CAFTA because its purpose is ‘integrating more closely with 34 hemispheric neighbors – thus furthering the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) which the 2001 Quebec Declaration declared would bring about ‘hemispheric integration.’
President George W. Bush signed the Declaration of Quebec City on April 22, 2001, which was a ‘commitment to hemispheric integration’ larded with favorite United Nations doubletalk such as ‘interdependent,’ ‘greater economic integration,’ and ‘sustainable development.’
The Senate Republican policy paper argued that CAFTA ‘will promote democratic governance.’ But there is nothing democratic about CAFTA’s many pages of grants of vague authority to foreign tribunals on which foreign judges can force us to change our domestic laws to be ‘no more burdensome than necessary’ on foreign trade.” [14]
CAFTA is designed to serve the economic interests of the globalists and the multinational corporations, but it makes no sense historically, constitutionally, or democratically…Our Declaration of Independence, in essence, is a declaration of American sovereignty. Our freedom depends on keeping our sovereignty – with our own borders – and on avoiding European mistakes. It is essential that our next President be a man who will stand up for American sovereignty.” [15]
Vote for the Constitution Party.
“Richard Gardner writing in the Council on Foreign Relations publication Foreign Affairs, ‘boldly asserted that a single leap into world government was unrealistic,’ John McManus said. Gardner advocated, ‘An end run around national sovereignty, eroding it piece by piece, will accomplish more than the old-fashioned frontal assault.’ Gardner said this approach ‘can produce some remarkable concessions of sovereignty that could not be achieved on an across-the-board basis.’ He wants our nation to end up as merely one area in the United Nations-run world,’ McManus concluded.
The gimmick that is proving most successful in setting the stage for the ‘new world order’ and world government is ‘free trade.’” [16]
“Leaving aside the arguments for or against CAFTA itself, the process by which the bill ultimately passed should sicken every American who believes in representative government. Here’s how. As the vote progressed, the tally was neck and neck. When the 15-minute period ended, CAFTA had gone down in flames.
But, pro-CAFTA forces were so determined to get what they wanted, they broke the rules. House leadership ignored the time limit and kept twisting arms and making deals until they had the votes to pass CAFTA nearly an hour later.
What kind of deals? Well, one member of House leadership told reluctant legislators, ‘We’ve got to have you; you tell us what you want.’ And tell they did. Lawmakers in textile producing states were bought off with promises of textile subsidies. Lawmakers in sugar-producing states were bought off with promises of special treatment in the 2007 farm fill. On and on it went, with promises of new bridges, parks, and whatever else it took to pass CAFTA.
Rest assured that you will pay dearly for these bribes used to buy votes. Every favor granted and every pet project funded comes on top of the pork-laden appropriations bills already passed in the House this year. These new goodies will be added to the final House-Senate versions passed later this year.
One of my colleagues estimated that the price tag for buying the CAFTA vote will be at least $50 billion. That’s right, $50 billion to win a vote. Is this what you want from your representatives in office?
CAFTA was conceived and created by corporate interests, and to claim otherwise is preposterous. The CAFTA vote had nothing to do with the American public, or even trade policy per se. CAFTA was driven by politics and nothing more. Multinational corporations and political globalists share the same goals, namely the centralization of political power in international bodies and the diminution of national sovereignty.
What we witnessed last week was not just the selling of votes, but also a sellout of American control over our own trade regulations.” [17]
Congress should have rejected CAFTA, and here is why:
- Most of the free trade agreements entered into by the United States have increased this nation’s trade debt, a deficit which now stands at $617 billion. The North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico (NAFTA), in just a little over a decade, changed the U.S. – Mexican trade relationship from a favorable U.S. trade balance of $1.3 billion in 1994 to a $45.1 billion trade debt in 2004. CAFTA will operate no differently.
- The United States buys more from the CAFTA countries than the U.S. sells there. The United States trade deficit with these countries is already running $2 billion a year without CAFTA. CAFTA would make the debt even worse.
- Some 80 percent of products exported to the U.S. by CAFTA countries already come into this country duty free. Why? Because in 2000, the United States entered into the Caribbean Trade Initiative. Under this agreement, textile mills in the U.S. ship raw materials to factories in Central America without paying tariffs. The foreign plants use these raw materials to make clothing which they ship back to the U.S. duty free.
- Most U.S. exports to the CAFTA countries are not creating jobs in the United States. These exports are not consumed by the people of the CAFTA nations. Instead, as economist Alan Tonelson notes, the U.S. exports fabric to Central America, there to be ‘stitched into final apparel and home furnishings products, and shipped right back to the United States.’ Tonelson’s conclusion is that: Rather than serving new foreign markets, these ‘exports’ serve the same domestic market U.S.-based industries once supplied. The only difference: American workers are removed from the equation. Thus, CAFTA isn’t a trade agreement at all – it’s an outsourcing agreement.’
CAFTA, Tonelson says, is ‘designed to make it easier for U.S. companies to go in to Central America and produce things that are not for (the) Central American market, but (for) us.’" [18]
We need to start working now to defeat the FTAA (Free Trade Agreement of the Americas). All four South Carolina Republican Congressmen voted for CAFTA and against U.S. jobs. Now is the time to convince them that we will not send them back to Washington if they don’t vote against FTAA.