mr. speaker , i thank the gentleman from massachusetts for yielding me this time . 
because the central american free trade agreement can not pass on its merits , its supporters are attempting a last-minute bid to win desperately needed votes later this evening , probably very late this evening , on the central american free trade agreement . 
this bill before us purports to address the imbalanced trade relationship with china . 
we all know it will not do that . 
but what it is is just another cynical attempt to buy what is very well documented in this nation 's pro-free trade , pro-cafta media , very well documented in the media ; this is just another cynical attempt to buy votes on cafta , among other cynical attempts to buy votes on cafta . 
this fails , as the gentleman from maryland ( mr. cardin ) xz4000640 said , as the gentleman from new jersey members of congress should be troubled that this bill has been introduced only in order to push through another trade priority . 
we should not have to approve a job-killing trade deal with central america in order to get the chance to vote on a toothless china bill . 
i will say that again : we should not have to approve a job-killing trade deal with central america in order to get a chance to vote on this toothless china bill . 
there are no assurances even that the senate has plans to consider this half measure , and it is surely unlikely to ever become law . 
aggressively counteracting china 's unfair trade practices should be a top trade priority . 
the gentleman from michigan ( mr. levin ) xz4002380 and the gentleman from maryland ( mr. cardin ) xz4000640 , members of the committee on ways and means , they want it to be , but it should have nothing to do with cafta . 
unfortunately , for the past 5 years , the administration has done nothing to curb china 's illegal trade activities . 
it is always words over action . 
in the past 5 years , our government has refused to enforce domestic trade laws with regard to china , failed to take advantage of wto mechanisms to challenge china 's violations of international trade rules , balked at taking any concrete action on china 's manipulation of its currency ; what i hear from my manufacturers in akron , in lorain , and in elyria almost every week . 
our government has proposed eliminating funding for china enforcement activities and our government 's proposed congressional efforts to address china 's unfair trade practices through legislation . 
this bill fails to resolve these problems . 
instead of demanding action , it calls for more reports and more studies to tell us what we already know , that china is simply not playing fair . 
congress may get only one chance , mr. speaker , to act on china trade this year . 
wasting that opportunity on this ineffective bill is a betrayal of america 's working families , of our small manufacturers , and of our long-term economic security . 
congress should not be fooled by this lose-lose proposition . 
a toothless bill on china will not make cafta any better . 
