Dear Chairman Leahy and Ranking Member Gregg:
I have long supported strong labor and environment provisions in our bilateral free trade agreements. Labor and environment capacity building are critical in helping other countries achieve higher labor and environment standards. Congress passed the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement last December, the first free trade agreement to include the expanded labor and environment provisions of the May 10 bipartisan trade deal. Specifically, Peru agreed to abide by the International Labor Organization’s core labor standards. Peru also pledged to create an environment ministry and dramatically increase its ability to enforce its environmental laws. That agreement also contains an annex dedicated to fighting illegal logging in Peru and improving Peru’s forest sector governance.
These provisions are important milestones that directly address the labor and environmental effects of trade, but they cannot be fully and effectively implemented unless proper funding is set aside to implement these provisions. To meet these obligations, Peru will need trade capacity building assistance from the United States, and we should deliver. I ask you to work with the Department of State and other agencies to ensure that adequate funding is provided to Peru to implement this agreement in 2008, and request that you allocate all necessary funds for implementation of this agreement in the 2009 appropriations cycle. Specifically, I request that at least $20 million be allocated to Peru in 2009, including at least $8 million for labor and $12 million for environmental initiatives, including the illegal logging annex.
I was disappointed to learn that the capacity building funds associated with the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) were dramatically reduced, from $40 million to $10 million, for FY 2008. A number of labor and environmental projects in Central America will have to be scaled back or curtailed this year due to lack of funds. In 2009, I urge you to restore CAFTA capacity building funds to the $40 million level, the amount required to address the labor and environmental needs identified during the CAFTA negotiations.
I am also aware that the Senate has a full legislative calendar and must consider a number of pressing issues this Congress. If the Senate is unable to pass an appropriations bill before the end of FY 2008, and the agencies charged with labor and environment capacity building must operate under a continuing resolution, I trust that these agencies will be granted funding at least equal to their FY 2008 levels. In the absence of a new appropriation, it is particularly important that the $3 million granted to the U.S. Agency for International Development for labor and environment capacity building in Peru continue for FY 2009.
Helping our trading partners to protect labor and the environment while strengthening our economies through trade should be a cornerstone of U.S. trade and development policy. I look forward to working with you to accomplish these goals.
Sincerely,
Max Baucus
Source: Ranking Member’s News
