In the most hotly contested vote of the 109th Congress, North Carolina Congressman Patrick McHenry voted this evening against the Central America Free Trade Agreement – a law that would loosen U.S. trade with the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama.

U.S. House leaders had been trying to bring the bill to the floor since May, and finally brought the bill to a vote in the full House, where it passed by an ultra-narrow 217-215 margin a few minutes after midnight.

“CAFTA is a bad deal for western North Carolina workers and families,” said Congressman McHenry. “I made a promise to my constituents that I would oppose the measure unless it were changed to protect western North Carolina workers. It remained unchanged, and I voted ‘no.’”

“We have seen a continued loss of good jobs in western North Carolina to foreign countries,” he continued. “In the last year alone, the tenth congressional district has seen 4,512 layoffs – and those do not even include the recently-announced 1,100 jobs lost at Broyhill Industries in Rutherford and Caldwell counties. Too many of these jobs have gone overseas.”

“We can bring jobs back to the district, but CAFTA is the wrong approach. We need to better fund our community colleges and vocational training programs because by doing so we can create a better-trained and more competitive workforce that will attract new business and investment. Education, training and tax relief will create new jobs in western North Carolina – not a law that will open the door to foreign countries undercutting American workers.”