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Clinton continues to lobby undecided House members on China trade pact

Key Democrat announces support for trade pact

May 16, 2000
Web posted at: 5:56 p.m. EDT (2156 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Bill Clinton met one-on-one Tuesday with as many as a half-dozen undecided House members as part of the White House campaign to win passage of Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) with China.

Rangel
Rep. Charles Rangel  

On Tuesday afternoon, administration officials applauded the decision by Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, who had just announced his support for the landmark trade agreement, which opens up Chinese agriculture, technology and manufacturing markets to U.S. goods.

"From a high-tech point of view, an agriculture point of view, a goods-and-services point of view, a great deal of [committee Democrats] have no choice except to support allowing America access to these markets," Rangel said.

As the ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee and a leader of the Congressional Black Caucus, the White House is hopeful Rangel will prove influential with several other undecided House Democrats.

Trade agreements fall under the jurisdiction of the Ways and Means Committee, which is scheduled to vote on PNTR for China on Wednesday, before advancing the trade bill to the full House of Representatives.

White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart said early Tuesday afternoon that the president would talk up the legislation Wednesday in a commencement address at the Coast Guard Academy, and would likely hold additional public events in the days leading up to the vote in the House, which should occur sometime next week.

Administration officials are confident the measure will pass the House, but say they are still short of the public commitments necessary to guarantee passage. Senate approval is considered a sure bet.

Also on Tuesday, Republican congressional leaders said they were close to reaching agreement on related legislation that would establish a commission to monitor human rights in China.

Many House Democrats have demanded the monitoring plan in exchange for their support of PNTR. The bipartisan legislation, proposed by Rep. Sander Levin (D-Michigan) and Rep. Doug Bereuter (R-Nebraska) calls for Congress to set up a commission to review Chinese human rights policies, and could recommend sanctions against Beijing as long as those sanctions were consistent with World Trade Organization rules.

The China trade debate has divided the Democrats, with organized labor and its allies mounting a fierce lobbying campaign against the trade pact on the grounds China's human rights record should not be rewarded with permanent trade status with the United States.

The trade pact is part of a deal between the U.S. and China as the Asian nation seeks to ease its way into the World Trade Organization.

CNN's John King and Reuters contributed to this report.

 
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