obama says no: trade agreement

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is against scheduling a congressional vote after next month's election on a free-trade agreement with Colombia, a campaign adviser said.
Concerns about violence against labor leaders and low worker organizing rates in that nation haven't been resolved, and labor rights must ''be addressed in a meaningful way'' before a vote, said Lael Brainard, who represented the Obama campaign at the Washington International Trade Association today. ``This is the moment the U.S. has leverage.''

Democrats in Congress earlier this year delayed a vote on the trade accord, and lobbyists have sought a vote after the Nov. 4 election in a so-called lame-duck session of Congress. President Bush made approval of the Colombia free-trade agreement a priority for his last year in office.
Philip Levy, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington and an adviser to John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, said he doubts Congress will vote on Colombia this year.