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 )  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 )  and the gentleman from maryland ( mr. cardin )  , 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 .  