Chamber of the Americas
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Phone: (303) 462-1275 email: gil@chamberoftheamericas.com

Summary of COA breakfast forum featuring US Senator Ken Salazar

Latin America trend: A move to the left

Speaking at a Chamber of the Americas breakfast forum Dec. 12, U.S. Senator Ken Salazar provided members and guests with “A view from the US Senate” including bipartisanship in Congress and trade between and among countries in the Western Hemisphere.

Although he favors NAFTA, Salazar voted down DR-CAFTA, which passed the Senate by a slim margin. The vote was “painful” for him, he said, because he supports free trade. “But free trade must address those left behind when free trade agreements are put together” and he didn’t feel that DR-CAFTA had done this adequately.

Trade is only one aspect of the relationship between the US and Latin America, Salazar said, noting that the US hasn’t had an effective policy for dealing with issues in this region for some time. There is an urgency to correct this oversight, especially because of what he sees as a growing trend: a move to the left by Latin American leaders who are opposed to any free trade agreement with the US, and who have expressed their unhappiness with Washington.

“There’s a lot more we have to do with Latin America and Mexico, particularly regarding immigration, to try to improve the relationship,” said Salazar. He is working closely with Senators John McCain and Ted Kennedy on an immigration reform package and guest worker program. “In 2006, immigration will be the hot political issue in the US.” He said it was time to take illegal immigration out of the shadows and put it into a legal framework.

Bipartisanship is the key to getting things done in Washington, he said. The Senate is one of the few places in the capitol “where there is still a bastion of bipartisanship, where people -- not everybody but a number of us – are willing to put the common needs of the American people ahead” of party politics.

As a freshman senator he is “way down on the totem pole” in terms of clout. But he has been part of the “Gang of 14,” a group of moderate republicans and moderate democrats who work together to do “the business of the people.” They were successful in saving the Senate filibuster rule, which was in danger of being dumped, based on the argument that the filibuster was an important right for the minority. The position of the “Gang of 14” prevailed “All of a sudden 14 centrist democrats and republicans took that issue off the table, and Washington didn’t know what to do; they had been prepared for a big war.”

The Transportation Bill is another example of bipartisanship, Salazar said. “It affects every state. For Colorado, it means we’re going to get more money back into our state than we ever had before, because historically, Colorado has only received back about 90 cents for ever dollar that we pay in federal gas and fuel taxes. With this bill we will start getting back 92 cents on the dollar, which means over $150 million coming back to the state. It will help us with jobs and projects important to the future of our country.”

Asked if he saw a thawing in the relationship between the US and Cuba, Salazar did not seem too hopeful for the short term. “We are in a waiting mode,” he said. As long as Fidel Castro is in power, there will not likely be a change.

Gil Cisneros, CEO and president of the Chamber of the Americas, invited Sen. Salazar to lead a chamber trade mission to Mexico after Mexico’s next presidential election. Salazar said he would like to do that, and also expressed an interest in visiting Brazil because of that country’s progress in the use of renewable energy.

About the Chamber of the Americas, Salazar said: “I strongly believe in your mission. I strongly believe in the great work that Gil Cisneros and members of the board of directors do. We in the Western Hemisphere are tied together by a tremendous commonality. The business opportunities between the United States and Canada to the north, and all of our trading partners to the south, are opportunities that are very important and we need to work on them, husband them and make sure that we have a more united hemisphere.” Trade is a significant aspect of these opportunities, he added.

The breakfast forum was sponsored by Cage Williams Abelman & Layden, P.C., Continental Airlines and Carlos Klinger & Sons.