WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Expiring U.S. trade benefits for Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia would be renewed through the end of this year under a bill approved on Thursday by a U.S. House of Representatives committee.
The 10-month extension is a compromise between Democrats who had favored renewing the program for two years and Republicans, who wanted a much shorter renewal to keep pressure on Congress to approve a free trade pact with Colombia.
Senior Democrats say they need more evidence Colombia is serious about stopping murders of trade unionists and putting their killers in prison before they vote on the pact, but have favored renewing the trade preference program.
The Bush administration has pushed hard for approval of the free trade agreement, which it says would strengthen ties for a strong ally in a region otherwise dominated by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a foe of the United States.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pressed those national security arguments in meeting on Wednesday evening with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
However, Pelosi made no commitment to bring up the pact for a vote this year, a Democratic aide said.
House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat, told reporters on Thursday it was up to the U.S. Trade Representative's office, and not members of Congress, to negotiate with Colombia on violence concerns.
"I don't put demands to sovereign countries," Rangel said, when asked what specific benchmarks Colombia must meet before Congress could vote on the pact.
He also ruled out, for now, visiting Colombia, as the administration has urged lawmakers to do in the hope that seeing the progress Colombia has already made in reducing violence would help build support for the pact.
"I would not want to go down unless I really knew I could bring some good news (in terms of a vote on the free trade pact). There's nothing I could find out in Colombia that would help the situation we find ourselves in," Rangel said.
Rep. Sander Levin, a Michigan Democrat, said he hoped the full House would approve the Andean program extension by the end of February, when the trade preference program is set to expire for the third time in a little more than a year.
The Senate would also have to vote to renew the program, which allows the four Andean countries to export most of their goods to the United States without paying duties and dates back to the early 1990s.
Ways and Means Republicans agreed to the 10-month renewal, but said they were frustrated that Democrats continue to block a vote on the Colombia trade trade pact.
Congress approved a free trade pact with Peru late last year that permanently locks in its duty-free access to the U.S. market. But that country also needs trade preferences extended until that pact formally goes into force.
Rep. Wally Herger, a California Republican, said the short-term renewal would give Congress time to evaluate Ecuador and Bolivia's continued participation in the programs.
Actions those countries having taken regarding U.S. investors "remain a serious concern," he said.
(Reporting by Doug Palmer, editing by David Wiessler)
