In a midnight vote Congress narrowly approved the Central American Free Trade Agreement or CAFTA. The final vote was 217 to 215. But last night’s vote came with a major twist. When official voting had ended at 11:17 pm, as the 15 minute voting period had expired, legislators had actually voted to defeat CAFTA 180-175. But Republican leaders took the unusual move of holding the vote open for another 47 minutes, furiously rounding up holdouts in their own party until they had secured just enough to ensure approval. To win, the White House and GOP congressional leaders had to overcome resistance from dozens of Republican members who opposed CAFTA because of issues ranging from the threat to the U.S. sugar industry to more general worries about the impact of global trade on U.S. jobs. President Bush made a rare visit to Capitol Hill yesterday to lobby Republican dissenters. Only 15 of the 202 House Democrats backed the measure, while 27 Republicans voted against CAFTA.

• Walter Jones, (R–North Carolina):
  CAFTA is not going to help the people of Central America, and it certainly won’t help those American workers who will lose their jobs…If CAFTA becomes the law of the land, this country is setting itself up to become a second-rate manufacturing country.

The House vote was effectively the last hurdle facing CAFTA. The Senate has already approved the agreement.