TO: Family farm, rural, and food safety/food security organizations
FROM: WORC
RE: SIGN-ON LETTER to Senate
DATE: 5/7/02

The following "Dear Senator" letter is being circulated by the National Family Farm Coalition (NFFC) to get as many state, regional, and national agriculture and food organizations to sign-on in opposition to fast track (Trade Promotion Authority), which is now being debated in the Senate.

We urge you to sign on to this letter. Please respond to this email or send a fax to NFFC with the following information: your organization name, name of contact, address, phone, fax and email of organization.

PLEASE GET YOUR RESPONSE BACK TO NFFC BY THURSDAY, MAY 9

May 9, 2002

Dear Senator,

On behalf of the undersigned organizations, we urge your opposition to the granting of fast track trade authority.

Both President Bush and his trade representative, Robert Zoellick, have said they need to secure Fast Track authority from you to expand NAFTA.

NAFTA was disastrous for farmers, workers and consumers in the United States. The proposed extension of NAFTA to all of South America, the Free Trade Areas of the Americas (FTAA), will have the same effects as NAFTA but on a more devastating scale. NAFTA has not created more prosperity in the U.S.; instead, it has only accelerated the loss of family farms and jobs and held down wages for working people in the United States, as well as in Mexico and Canada. NAFTA promised farmers that they would be able to export their way to economic success, and promised lower food prices to consumers. Neither benefit has materialized; however, agribusiness corporations have seen their profits increase to record levels. Moreover, since 1994, the overall agricultural surplus has declined from $22.5 billion per year to $12.6 billion in 2000, a 47% decrease.

Fast track is also extremely undemocratic. Citizens should have a say in what trade policy we have in this country. We elected you to make trade policy. Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution invests Congress with exclusive authority to "regulate Commerce with foreign nations." Please do not abdicate this important responsibility.

Fast track will be a detriment to family farmers, rural communities, and working people because it fails to meet the principles of a fair trade policy that promotes global food security while sustaining family farms and competitive markets. An important way for you as a member of the U.S. Senate to ensure the survival of family farmers, rural communities, and working people, is to oppose fast track.