At bedtime in Juneau (about 11 PM) the Washington Post is reporting that the House approved CAFTA 217 to 215: Trade Pact Approved By House .
Apparently it wasn't pretty:
When time for the vote on the Central American Free Trade Agreement expired at 11:17 p.m., the nays outnumbered the yeas by 180 to 175. But, a few minutes past midnight, the GOP leadership, ignoring Democratic protests that the rules were being violated, had rounded up enough votes to win by 217 to 215...
During last night's debate, which lasted 2 1/2 hours, the intensity of their opposition shone through in emotional condemnations such as that by Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio), who thundered: "CAFTA is for multinational companies who want to make a profit by shutting plants in the United States and moving to places with cheap labor."
To win, the White House and GOP congressional leaders had to overcome resistance from dozens of Republican members who were also concerned about the agreement because of issues ranging from the perceived threat to the U.S. sugar industry to more general worries about the impact of global trade on U.S. jobs...
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