U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement put on hold

The House's action effectively pushed debate on the politically sensitive trade deal into the next administration and averted a potentially embarrassing showdown for the Democratic presidential candidates.

Republicans denounced the move, saying it damaged a key ally and undermined American credibility.

"Today's unprecedented and unfortunate action by the House of Representatives . . . is damaging to our economy, our national security and our relations with an important ally," Bush said in a statement.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) cast the 224-195 vote as an effort to push an out-of-touch administration to do more to help ordinary Americans in economic distress. Once the administration addresses those needs, she said, Congress will go forward with the trade pact.

"We certainly should do more for our own economy before passing another trade agreement," she said, citing recent jobless data and the statement Tuesday by former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan that the U.S. is "in the throes of a recession."

"We are ready to work with the president on a second stimulus package to get our economy back on track and creating jobs," Pelosi said. "That must be our first priority."

Trade, always a thorny topic in presidential elections, has emerged as a central theme as Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois battle for Democratic voters in Pennsylvania, where residents have lost jobs to globalization and many strongly oppose trade deals. The state's primary is April 22.

The issue has become so sensitive that Clinton recently dismissed a top campaign advisor, Mark Penn, because the public relations firm he heads had been hired by the Colombian government to promote the pact.

Controversy over the Colombia deal also highlights a strong policy difference between the two Democratic candidates and the presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona. They oppose it; McCain backs it.

With trade increasingly prominent in the presidential campaign, Tuesday's vote saved Clinton and Obama from a difficult choice: The pact was backed by business groups that support the two candidates, but it was vehemently opposed by a traditional Democratic ally -- organized labor, which has condemned the ongoing slayings of Colombian labor activists.