Contact: Antonia Ferrier (202) 224-5344
Tuesday, June 21, 2005

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-ME) today urged the Bush Administration to retain a provision in the Caribbean-American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) that would ensure service workers are included in the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) Program.

“Our global economy is becoming increasingly service-based. Unfortunately with many American service jobs moving overseas, we have no means of providing those displaced workers with the same relief as those who have lost their jobs in the manufacturing sector,” said Snowe. “I have joined with a group Senators in urging the Administration to bring parity to the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, because a more inclusive TAA is in the best interest of the nation providing those workers with the support they rightly need during a difficult transition period.”

Snowe supported an amendment during the Senate Finance Committee’s consideration of the CAFTA-DR Trade Agreement last week that would expand TAA benefits to service workers. Snowe joined a group of ten Senators in sending a letter to United States Trade Representative Robert Portman urging the Bush Administration to retain the provision in the final agreement.

“When the Federal government negotiates trade agreements, it should be the responsibility of the Federal government to ensure that any worker displaced as a result is eligible for assistance regardless of the sector in which the worker was employed. It simply is neither credible nor correct to argue that trade adjustment assistance for service workers does not belong in legislation implementing CAFTA-DR,” the letter said.

Maintaining this provision in CAFTA-DR has several precedents, including provisions in the implementing legislation for the North American Free Trade (NAFTA) Agreement that extended TAA.

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