A group of high ranking senators, governors and officials from the American Hispanic community met today to discuss what needs to be done to ensure that the Colombian Free Trade Agreement gets passed by the House of Representatives in the near future.

Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL) talked about how Hispanic leaders from around the country will be joining together to launch a grassroots campaign supporting the agreement. During the Hispanic leaders’ media press conference following their roundtable discussion, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said that holding up the agreement was a “big mistake” both for economic reasons and national security concerns as well. Speakers at the press conference agreed that the issue was vital for the Hispanic community in America as a whole.

Senator Jon Cornyn (R-TX) explained how it was important we support the bill also to back President Alvaro Uribe in Colombia, not the controversial Hugo Chavez.

By Ellen Ratner

It’s been a long time since Capitol Hill politics starting looking a lot like they used to: Personal animus is out and deal-making, pork and problem solving are back in fashion. That’s the way it should be – our country currently faces some major problems that, for once, aren’t the creation of some candidate’s oppo research department.

America is looking down the long, dark tunnel of recession, or possibly worse. Rumors abound about deal-making on the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, and of even greater importance to more Americans, a second stimulus package. Bush and his fellow corporate cowboys want the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, and the Democrats are eager to take care of their own, which are the folks most likely to be hurt in the current blizzard of bad economic news. House Speaker Pelosi managed to shrewdly kill the Colombia deal, but not because she dislikes either Colombia or free trade. Rather, it gives her something to swap with the Republican corporate cowboys in exchange for advancing part of the Democratic economic agenda.

These days things move at warp speed, and economic woes are no exception. The Democrats agreed with the first stimulus package; this time, the checks really are in the mail. But in the meantime, everything made out of or from petroleum has soared even higher, and it’s an open question whether we’ll spend our $600 windfall on gasoline, fuel oil, credit cards or mortgage payments. One thing is certain: $600 don’t buy what it used to (starting from a month ago), and they surely aren’t going to ease the pain as the promised blizzard of bad news turns pink from all those slips telling Joe and Sally, “You’re Fired!” In short, if things were doing any better, the economy would only be terrible.

Last Thursday, several U.S. senators gathered with union leaders to figure out a second stimulus package. This was down and dirty – up for discussion were tax rebates, an increase of food stamps and adding more time to unemployment insurance eligibility. (Welfare reform was a great idea when the economy was booming; we’ll see how many reformers are left if unemployment increases to 7 or 8 percent.)

Of all the proposals served up, extending unemployment benefits would likely help more people more effectively. The Joint Economic Committee’s Democratic staff members agree, and they point to history: During the last two economic troughs into which the nation tumbled (1991 and 2001), Congress approved and a Republican president agreed to extensions of employment benefits. This is almost a bipartisan response to employment crises, and the only arguments usually revolve around how long to extend and how much to increase benefits.

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