Trade Voting Records of the Candidates

So I was going to do a post on the Kucinich campaign but instead chose to do a quick overview of the Democratic candidates voting records on trade-related issues. The following is just about trade issues, I did not include labor issues, health care, etc. but will at a later date. I'd figure it easier to see all the candidates voting records posted in one place instead of searching back and forth and comparing. All of this information has been taken from from either vote-smart.org or publiccitizen.org. Kucinich has a few more votes because of role in the House. Also, I wanted to included Cynthia McKinney, ex-Democrat and potential Green party Presidential candidate, who was also in the House. However, her voting record was hard to track down on vote-smart and I decided against it. Maybe at a later date I will add it. Of course, some/most of the candidates weren't in office in the entire time (93-06) so they did not vote on all of the issues. This is just a sampling:



I looked up the following votes:
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA-1993)
World Trade Organization (WTO-1993)
African Free Trade Bill (11/03/99)
African Free Trade Bill (5/11/00)
2000 WTO Withdrawal
China Nonproliferation Bill (9/13/00)--Vote to kill an amendment that requires the U.S. to put sanctions on countries, including China, if they are selling WMDs.
U.S.-China Relations Act of 2000 (9/19/00)--Vote to pass a bill to extend permenant normal trade relations to China
U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Implementation (7/7/03)
U.S.-Chile Free Trade Implementation (7/7/03)
Australia Free Trade Agreement (2004)
Morocco Free Trade Agreement (2004)
CAFTA Implementation Bill (6/30/05 AND 7/28/05)
2005 WTO Withdrawal
U.S.-Oman Free Trade Agreement (6/29/06)
U.S.-Oman Free Trade Agreement Implementation (9/19/06)

* The Jordan FTA was passed by voice vote
*WTO Withdrawal was only voted on in the House

Senator Joe Biden
1973-Present
All Agreements Available
NAFTA: yes WTO: yes African FT Bill: yes x2 China Nonproliferation Bill: yes U.S.-China Relations Act of 2000: yes U.S.-Singapore FTA: no U.S.-Chile FTA: no U.S.-Morocco FTA: yes U.S.-Australia FTA: yes CAFTA: no x2 U.S.-Oman FTA: no

Senator Hillary Clinton
2000-Present
U.S.-Singapore FTA: yes U.S.-Chile FTA: yes U.S.-Morocco FTA: yes U.S.-Australia FTA: yes CAFTA no x2 U.S.-Oman FTA: yes

Senator Chris Dodd
1980-Present
NAFTA: yes WTO: yes African FT Bill: yes x2 China Nonproliferation Bill: yes U.S.-China Relations Act of 2000: yes U.S.-Singapore FTA: no U.S.-Chile FTA: no U.S.-Morocco FTA: yes U.S.-Australia FTA: yes CAFTA: no x2 U.S.-Oman FTA: no

former Senator John Edwards
1998-2004
African FT Bill: no x2 China Nonproliferation Bill: yes U.S.-China Relations Act of 2000: yes U.S.-Singapore FTA: no U.S.-Chile FTA: no U.S.-Morocco FTA: no vote U.S.-Australia FTA: no vote

Rep. Dennis Kucinich
1997-Present
Africa FT Bill: no x2 U.S.-China Relations Act of 2000: no U.S.-Singapore FTA: no U.S.-Chile FTA: no U.S.-Morocco FTA: no vote U.S.-Australia FTA: no CAFTA: no U.S.-Oman FTA: no
Also: WTO Withdrawal: yes x2 Disapproval of Normal Trade Relations with China: yes Steel Import Limitation Bill: yes Lifting travel restrictions to Cuba: yes Lifting economic embargo on Cuba: yes Extension of normal trade relations with China: no

Senator Barack Obama
2005-Present
CAFTA: no U.S.-Oman FTA: yes

Governor Bill Richardson
Rep. 1983-1997
NAFTA: yes WTO: yes


That might give you a better understanding of how the Democratic candidates stand on the trade issues following the AFL-CIO debate. Very interesting indeed.

Other Thoughts
In what should seem like related news two things I've heard from the fallout of the AFL-CIO debate. The AFL-CIO will hold off on endorsing a candidate, probably because it's pretty obvious that in reality Hillary isn't "their girl"...Dennis Kucinich is getting a bit more mainstream media coverage, but the talk is still revolving mostly around Clinton/Obama while the Edwards campaign is being treated as on life support...I heard one analyst state that after the debate Kucinich was treated like a (her words) "rock star" from the people in the crowd. She said that they were charging up to the rope to shake his hand. She went on to say that he is in fact VERY important to this debate because he has huge differences between the other candidates and puts issues and solutions on the table that otherwise wouldn't be discussed...Looking back at the debate, Dodd and Biden are looking more and more like Clinton's lapdogs...It's sad that Bill Richardson is getting lost further into the shuffle when in fact he has a sound candidacy for President...

Tomorrow I will do my previously planned topic, an in-depth look at the Kucinich campaign...