House Rejects, 338-86, Resolution Withdrawing U.S. From WTO
As expected, the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday voted 338-86 to reject H.J. Res. 27, a joint resolution withdrawing the approval of the Congress from the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement. A similar resolution in 2000 failed by a vote of 363-56.
Under the Under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA), the 1994 law that approved U.S. participation in the WTO, any member of Congress has the right once every five years to demand a vote by the full House or Senate on withdrawing from the WTO. On March 2, 2005, Rep. Bernard Sanders (D-VT) introduced H.J. Res 27 to withdraw the approval of the U.S. from the Agreement establishing the WTO. The resolution would not automatically pull the United States out of the WTO and does not require the President to withdraw the United States from the WTO. Rather the resolution merely states that Congress does not approve of U.S. membership in WTO. Because the joint resolution must pass both chambers, yesterday's vote means that the Senate will not consider the measure.
The results of the House's roll call vote can be viewed at the following link: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/roll239.xml.
|posted by Douglas N. Jacobson| Permalink 
