mr. speaker , i thank the gentleman from maryland ( mr. cardin )  for the time .  workers rights matter to the rules of competition negotiated in trade agreements .  in order to make globalization work , and i emphasize this , its benefits must flow broadly among the majority of the population , not flow to the top and merely trickle down to the rest .  to spread the benefits of globalization , workers must have internationally recognized core labor rights : prohibitions on child labor , forced labor and discrimination , and importantly , the right of workers to associate and bargain collectively so they can advance their economic interests .  this is not a pro-versus-anti-trade view .  it is a view of how to expand trade in a way to spread its benefits among the population , stimulate , where it does not exist , a strong middle class necessary for a nation 's stability and , yes , the development of its democracy , provide u.s. workers with a more level playing field , and create markets of consumers with the income of other countries to buy our products .  each trade agreement presents its own challenges and opportunities .  unfortunately , the bush administration has insisted on using a misguided , cookie-cutter approach as to the basic standard on worker rights , saying to our trading partners simply `` enforce your own laws. '' where internationally recognized standards of workers rights were well-established in law , in practice , in a nation 's history so that there was unlikely a retreat , many of us voted yes : chile , singapore , morocco .  but we always warned that `` enforce your own laws '' as a standard was fundamentally an inappropriate approach and would be subject to misuse and abuse if adopted in the future under very different circumstances .  that was vividly true in cafta , regarding the rights and position of workers .  there were major gaps in the laws , in actual practices and in the socioeconomic dynamic of those nations .  so we , in the democratic party , overwhelmingly voted no .  we insisted that an unbalanced framework for expanded globalization would in central america lead to further poverty , further insecurity and hinder democratic development .  when the administration began to negotiate an fta with bahrain , it was clear that there existed issues unrelated to economic globalization which , if negotiated effectively , would militate in favor of approval of an fta .  those included the end of the boycott of israel and its impact on the movement towards security and potential peace in the middle east and american diplomatic relations with a nation moving faster than many others in the middle east towards democratic processes .  also , bahrain had taken the first steps a few years before to reform their labor code toward providing workers with their basic international rights .  while the code was more advanced , it is true , than in many middle east nations , it still fell short in several important respects .  so , in view of all these circumstances , as the gentleman from maryland ( mr. cardin )  has mentioned , a number of us chose to work with and press the bahrainian government to bring their laws up to basic international standards .  that started an intensive process where the negotiating parties did work in good faith and where the ways and means committee at a hearing agreed , across party lines , that promises were not enough but that there must be concrete action on major gaps in labor laws .  the bahrainian government has now introduced concrete legislation , as mr. cardin  has announced , to fill these gaps in their labor code .  they will apply to both citizens and to the foreign workers who are there in large numbers .  bahrain is a small nation , 667 , 000-plus people with over 235 , 000 non-nationals , with a per capita income far higher than is true in other nations , where the majority of citizens in those nations live in poverty , and with a constitutional monarchy whose written support of these labor reforms provide confidence that the formally introduced reforms will become law .  when all of these particular circumstances are taken into account , those of us on the democratic side of the ways and means committee who have actively worked on this matter decided to support the bahrain fta .  our experience here , and i emphasize that , does not diminish but only reinforces our insistence that as we face far different circumstances , when achieving a positive result from expanded globalization confronts very different dynamics , and that is true in negotiations with latin american countries and others , our nation must do for the rights of workers what it does for all other provisions of trade agreements .  it must negotiate to place these international standards squarely in the body of the trade agreement with enforcement .  only then can we be confident that globalization will help workers in other nations uplift themselves , create a vital middle class in those nations so important to those nations , move towards international competition so that trade , as now increasingly being verbalized by president bush , is both free and fair .  only then can we be confident that competition with our workers from other countries will not be based on who can most suppress the rights of other workers and that for our own businesses , in this day and age , as mentioned , of our massive trade imbalances , there will be increasing numbers of middle income residents in other nations to buy our goods and services .  under those circumstances , i support this agreement , conditions very plainly spelled out here .  i hope this administration will take notice .  