House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said that Congress will not consider the United States-Colombia free-trade agreement unless a Trade Adjustment Assistance act has been passed into law. "[U]ntil and unless we have a robust Trade Adjustment Assistance bill to help the people affected [by trade], then I don't see any chance for the Colombia free trade agreement," Pelosi said in her weekly press conference Thursday. "Until that happens, I don't see a climate here for passing a free-trade agreement." On March 12, U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said that the Bush administration plans to send up the final implementing bill for the Colombia accord shortly after the Easter recess even if the congressional leadership does not approve of the timing.
Journal of Commerce
