Every week, 2,000 - 3,000 Second District residents write to me about the issues pending before Congress, and I work hard to respond to each person as promptly and thoughtfully as possible.  On this "Letter of the Week" blog, I highlight constituent letters that are of general interest.  If you'd like to share your own views, please feel free to e-mail me at any time!

Representative Boyda:

I support Speaker Pelosi's recent decision and the subsequent vote of the House of Representatives, the "people's chamber", to challenge the President's refusal to negotiate with Congress prior to submitting the implementing language of the Colombia Trade Agreement for a vote. In those just and courageous moves, Congress expressed its Constitutional responsibility for regulating international commerce.

I urge you now to carefully review the multiple provisions of the Colombia FTA and refuse to take responsibility for entering into an agreement with a nation in which human rights, especially those of workers who seek to unionize, and Afro-Indigenous people who refuse to give up their farms to foreign investors are not guaranteed.

Your Constitutional authority over trade brings with it the responsibility to guarantee that international trade is a vehicle of development for all parties to the trade agreement, not just the United States. As a concerned citizen, I hope that you will see that these recent events constitute a pivotal moment in the nation's trade history.

Mary from Topeka, KS

Dear Mary,

Thank you for taking the time to contact me regarding U.S. trade policy with Colombia. I appreciate hearing from you and I welcome the opportunity to begin a dialogue on this subject.

Trade policy affects our lives in many critical ways. It helps determine the price we pay for goods and services as well as the wages we get paid for doing our jobs. Trade is good if it lowers the price for products at the store, but it clearly isn’t worth it if those savings come at the expense of American jobs or our security.

Over the past ten years, free trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) have resulted in lost jobs for Kansans. The high quality jobs that Americans depend on to provide for their families have moved to countries with cheaper labor and often sub-standard working conditions. As long as our trade agreements do not address job loss for Americans and safe working conditions among all countries, trade will continue to be unequal.

These negotiated trade agreements do not sufficiently guard the American workers and businesses because the safeguards are not enforceable. An important key to revising US trade policies has taken place; the fast track negotiating authority has expired. This means the President no longer has the power to negotiate trade agreements without congressional amendment. Congress can again oversee and shape trade policy as described in the Constitution and provide balance between the branches of government.

Even with these developments, the President continues to push these trade agreements upon Congress. Instead of working with Congress on the economic concerns of the American people, the President took the unprecedented step of sending up the Colombia Trade deal without following established protocols of Congressional consultation. His actions were political and counter-productive, jeopardizing prospects for its passage.

The House of Representatives simply restored to Congress its constitutional role in developing trade policy by suspending the requirement that any Fast Track agreement be taken within 60 legislative days. The Fast Track law (PL 107-210) expressly recognizes “the constitutional right of either House to change the rules (so far as relating to the procedures of that House) at any time, in the same manner, and to the same extent as any other rule of that House.”

If any trade agreements come before Congress that do not provide for a more even playing field and fairer working conditions, I will oppose them and actively work to have my colleagues do the same.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me regarding this important issue. As your representative, I value your input and need to hear your perspective. I hope you will continue to keep in touch with me and let me know whenever I may be of future assistance. 

Sincerely,

Nancy Boyda
Member of Congress