US-Colombia trade deal 'dead' unless Congress acts: Bush
WASHINGTON (AFP) — President George W. Bush said on Monday a US-Colombia trade deal he supports was "dead" unless Congress set a date to vote on the agreement.
Bush said at a cabinet meeting "that bill is dead unless the speaker (of the House of Representatives) schedules a definite vote."
The president had urged the Democratic-led Congress to pass the deal, which he says is vital to US national security interests in Latin America.
But the House of Representatives delayed a vote on the trade pact last week in a snub to Bush.
The delay effectively means the House stopped a 90-day clock under which the full Congress was required to act, and analysts predict the bill will not get a vote before November's presidential and congressional elections.
The Senate is prohibited from taking any action on the bill until it has passed the House.
Bush last week criticized the delay as "damaging to our economy, our national security, and our relations with an important ally," and accused Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi of deliberately killing the deal for political gain.
But Change to Win, a movement of six US trade unions and seven million workers, had welcomed the House's move, after campaigning against the deal over numerous murders of trade unionists in Colombia.
