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Representative Edolphus Towns (N.Y.)

The Nov. 19, 2004, congressional floor speech of Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.-10) left no doubt that he opposed a proposed Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). The lengthy statement described, in detail, why CAFTA would harm most people in the affected nations. Yet nine months later, on July 27, Towns cast a decisive vote in favor of CAFTA that allowed the controversial trade pact to eke through the U.S. House of Representatives 217 to 215. Although the CAFTA text was unchanged between Towns’ 2004 speech and the congressional vote on the six-nation expansion of NAFTA, Towns provided one of the deciding votes in favor of the trade agreement.

PUBLIC CITIZEN NEWS RELEASES

• Dec. 14 - As Government Data Show Another Record Monthly U.S. Trade Deficit and Increasing Manufacturing Job Loss in New York City Region, Reps. Meeks’ and Towns’ CAFTA Votes Still in Spotlight

• Aug. 31 - CAFTA Damage Report - Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) Reverses Strong CAFTA Opposition, Becomes Prominent Flip-Flopper and Casts Deciding Vote for Expansion of NAFTA to Central America 

Read Rep. Towns' November 19, 2004 Anti-CAFTA Speech referenced in the CAFTA Damage Report

NEWS ARTICLES ON TOWNS' BAD CAFTA VOTE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

• "A 12-Term Brooklyn Congressman, in a Fight for No. 13," The New York Times, February 19, 2006.
• "CAFTA Vote Outs 'Bush Democrats,'" The Nation, July 28, 2005.
• "Pelosi Calls Steering Meeting to Review Defectors' Votes for CAFTA," Roll Call, July 28, 2005.
• "Democracy Sold Out - CAFTA Approved by Pork and a Hill of Beans," CommonDreams.org, July 28, 2005.   
• "Reverberations from CAFTA vote are still being felt on Hill," The Hill, August 3, 2005.
• "Union Leaders Denounce 2 Who Voted for Cafta," The New York Times, August 8, 2005.
• "New York Labor Groups Target Towns, Meeks Over CAFTA," National Journal's Congress Daily, August 8, 2005.
• "House Democrats under pressure after votes for DR-CAFTA," Inside US Trade, August 12, 2005.
• "Two Sides of CAFTA Divide Eyed," New York Daily News, August 14, 2005.

PICTURES FROM A RECENT PROTEST IN NEW YORK CITY IN RESPONSE TO TOWNS' CAFTA VOTE

• Picture 1     
• Picture 2

CONTACT REPRESENTATIVE TOWNS, AND LET HIM KNOW THAT HIS VOTE TO EXTEND NAFTA TO SIX MORE COUNTRIES WILL NOT GO UNNOTICED!

• DC Office: 202-225-5936
• Brooklyn District Office: 718-855-8018 
• Visit Representative Towns' website

Call and ask to speak with a Trade Legislative Assistant, and tell them that Representative Towns' bad CAFTA vote is not supported by the citizens of New York's 10th District!

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