killer here at home," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat. The Bush administration argued CAFTA labor provisions were the strongest of any trade pact yet. It has pledged to support $160 million in aid to CAFTA countries over the next four years for labor-enforcement and environmental programs. The American Farm Bureau Federation estimates the pact will boost U.S. farm exports to the region by $1.5 billion annually. The National Association of Manufacturers also expects gains. Many other business groups, ranging from media companies to high-tech firms, also backed the pact. Still, the White House had a harder time rounding up votes for CAFTA than any other recent trade pact, because of the Democratic opposition and concerns of Republicans in textile and sugar-producing states who feared job losses. Bush had urged Republicans at a meeting on Wednesday to put aside "parochial interests" and argued CAFTA would increase regional prosperity and reduce illegal immigration, said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican. Some Republicans were unmoved. "I told President Bush that my late mom was a textile worker," said Rep. Howard Coble, a North Carolina Republican. "And when textile workers ... plead with me to vote against CAFTA, I said to the president 'it's my momma talking to me and I cannot turn a deaf ear to those pleas'." Some textile-state lawmakers, however, argued the agreement would help the U.S. and Central American textile industries compete against China and other Asian suppliers. --SP 1400 Local Time 1100 GMT
