How You Can Promote
Fair Trade
The following update comes from St.
Therese’s Sistering Committee in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
During the first two weeks of May we had the
honor of hosting three
representatives from Guarjila, our sister community
in northern
Chalatanengo. During their visit, Luis, Roque
and Juanita had the
opportunity to meet with a slew of our representatives
from Wisconsin,
including Representative Sensenbrenner, Senator
Kohl and Senator
Feingold.
The most striking visit, and perhaps important,
was with aids from
Republican Congressman Sensenbrenner’s
office. While in the past
Sensenbrenner has voted consistently for free
trade and voted for Fast
Track, he is considered a swing vote for CAFTA.
Luis, Roque and Juanita
clearly impressed Sensenbrenner’s staff
by painting a clear picture of
the costs CAFTA represents for the people of
Guarjila.
As a senior member of Congress, Sensenbrenner’s
vote could influence
other Republicans who want to vote against CAFTA
but don’t want to go
against a Bush administration initiative.
What to Do?
Now is the time to broaden the debate on CAFTA.
Should Senator Kerry be
elected, we want to be sure that CAFTA doesn’t
just get a facelift—we
want a new deal, a just deal. If Bush is reelected,
we want to
strengthen and ensure continued opposition to
what is a bad trade
agreement.
Push your Representative to take a stand. With
CAFTA not likely to come
up for a vote this summer, many of your representatives
don’t want to
take a stand on CAFTA. With many of our representatives
up for
reelection this fall, now is when we as constituents
have the greatest
leverage. We can make our representatives accountable
to their
districts by contacting them this summer, educating
them, and pushing
them to take a position.
Send
a Fax from your Computer!
Public Citizen has made sending a fax to your
representative easy. Just
click below, enter your zip code, and a form
letter will appear. Don’t
worry, the letter wont be sent until after you
have a chance to read it
and authorize that it be sent.
Call your representative’s home or DC
office and share your questions and concerns
(make sure to request a written response to
ensure your input is being tracked!) To help
you with your talking points check out SHARE’s
10 Reasons to Oppose CAFTA and Seven
Ways to Make Trade Fair.
To find contact information for your representative,
type your zipcode in the box below:
The next District Work Period for members of
the House of
Representatives is June 30-July 4. Start coordinating
now if you want to
plan a meeting with your Representative.
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