President George W. Bush said on Wednesday he intended to send a controversial free trade pact with Colombia to Congress soon for a vote and warned rejecting the pact would harm U.S. national security.
That triggered a warning from congressional leaders that the agreement could be rejected if the White House tries to "bully" Congress into voting on the pact.
Bush said approval of the pact was essential to support a key ally in Latin America facing threats from the FARC guerrilla group at home and from neighboring Venezuela, led by leftist President Hugo Chavez. "As we speak, Colombia is under assault from a terrorist network known as the FARC, which aims to overthrow Colombia's democracy and aims to impose a Marxist vision on the country," Bush told the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
"Members of the Congress must be ready to move forward with the agreement when they return from the Easter recess," he said in the speech also attended by senior members of Bush's economic and national security team. "And they need to get the job done and get a bill to my desk."
U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab told reporters she expected Bush to send the agreement to Congress "very shortly" after lawmakers return on Mar 31 to ensure they vote on the pact by the end of the year. |