
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, November 21, 1993                   TAG: 9311210108
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

SENATE PASSES NAFTA

The Senate approved the North American Free Trade Agreement Saturday, ending with little fanfare a national debate that only a week ago had threatened to throw out the pact entirely and complicate Clinton administration plans for expanded trade agreements with other parts of the world.

The vote was 61-38. As was the case earlier in the House, Republicans supplied the most support, accounting for 34 of the favorable votes compared to 27 from the Democrats.

The pact was supported by Virginia senators Charles Robb and John Warner.

In a debate that lasted three days, the Senate echoed the fears and hopes inherent in the trade plan - chiefly whether it would produce new jobs in the United States from expanded export sales or just send needed jobs in struggling American industries to low-wage Mexico instead.

But with passage not in doubt, the clash of views lacked much of the rancor that characterized the closely contested vote Wednesday in the House of Representatives.

The only major step remaining is President Clinton's signature. Vice President Al Gore and Thomas "Mack" McLarty, the White House chief of staff, are expected to visit Mexico, perhaps as early as this week, to discuss with President Carlos Salinas de Gortari the specific steps to implement the trade plan.

The Mexican Legislature is expected to approve the pact without significant opposition this week.

The final moves in Canada to seal the agreement remain uncertain. The Parliament has approved the plan, but Prime Minister Jean Chretien, who must issue a final proclamation to put it into effect, has expressed reservations about some details.

The agreement would go into effect Jan. 1 and would phase out tariffs, quotas and other commercial barriers over the next 15 years.

Also Saturday, the Senate approved compromise legislation to extend unemployment benefits for those who have exhausted them. The measure was sent to the House after lawmakers rejected, 63-36, an attempt by Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, to insert a provision to lock in cuts in the federal work force that President Clinton favors.

Supporters portrayed the free trade zone as the wave of the future, encompassing 370 million people from Yukon to Yucatan and stimulating commerce and economic growth in all three nations.

by CNB