Word: braley
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...Take the case of Democratic Congressman Bruce Braley. Braley, who represents northeastern Iowa, won his seat from Jim Nussle, a Republican who retired to serve as head of the White House's Office of Management and Budget. Braley campaigned heavily on fair trade and won with a relatively comfortable margin of 55% for a freshman in a split district...
...From virtually the moment he arrived in Washington Braley was a target on both sides. Business sought to win him over - assuring him that the labor and environmental provisions in the Peruvian and Panamanian agreements were groundbreaking and sufficient to protect Iowans' jobs. Labor demanded he abide by his campaign promises to build better trade treaties that stopped the outsourcing of U.S. jobs. "There's a lot of people on both sides of this issue that are very passionate about the pros and cons of the trade agreement. It makes these trade deals very difficult,"Braley said...
...Last week, Braley sided with the unions. What convinced him, he says, was their argument that it is incumbent on the Bush Administration to enforce labor and environmental clauses of trade pacts - something they claim Bush has hardly seemed inclined to do thus far. Even though the Peru agreement will likely survive, that kind of argument will likely help prevent the other three from making it through, according to Bruce Josten, the top lobbyist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "Peru will in all probability constitute the entire free trade agenda to see a vote this year," Josten said...
...Supported by organized labor, Braley has campaigned on raising the minimum wage, fair trade issues, opposing Republican efforts to privatize Social Security and reforming the Medicare prescription drug program. Whalen has emphasized reducing wasteful government spending and government intrusion that hampers free enterprise. He also supports private sector solutions, a modified flat tax system to help small businesses and stimulate economic growth, "consumer-driven" health care reform, tort reform and permanent extension of federal income tax cuts...
...minimum wage issue in particular has bubbled up, with Braley claiming that Whalen has only paid workers the federally mandated minimum, which Whalen denied. So too has the immigration issue, aided by a high-profile U.S. House Judiciary Committee field hearing in Dubuque on immigration reform and an appearance on Whalen's behalf by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns, who warned of rising farm labor prices if illegal immigration is not dealt with comprehensively...