Pubdate: Wed, 29 Mar 2000
Source: Associated Press
Copyright: 2000 Associated Press
Author: Alan Fram, Associated Press Writer

HOUSE REFUSES TO CUT COLOMBIA BILL

WASHINGTON (AP) - The House refused Wednesday to slash a planned $1.7
billion for battling drug lords in Colombia and edged toward approving
a $13 billion bill that would also finance U.S. peacekeepers in Kosovo
and aid victims of natural disasters at home.

The House voted 239-186 to reject an effort by Rep. David Obey,
D-Wis., that would have delayed, and perhaps eventually killed, $522
million of the Colombia aid. The roll call came after House Speaker
Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., who rarely joins floor debate, took to the
well of the chamber to ask colleagues for the full amount of money.

Hastert, whose staunch support for the aid for Colombia has helped
keep the overall bill alive, said the money was crucial for
controlling the drug problem in the United States. U.S. officials say
90 percent of the cocaine and 65 percent of the heroin used in the
United States comes from Colombian-grown coca.

``We can't ignore this issue,'' Hastert said. ``We can't ignore it in
this Congress, we can't ignore it on our street corners, and we can't
ignore it in the place where this stuff comes from.''

Critics, both liberal and conservative, said the proposal would risk
an intensified, lengthy, and perhaps unsuccessful American involvement
in the South American country's long-running and bloody civil war.

``If this doesn't work, what is the next step?'' Obey said. ``Will we
then cut and run ... or deepen our involvement?''

President Clinton had requested $1.3 billion for Colombia, on top of
$300 million already in the pipeline. Administration officials worked
actively to oppose Obey's amendment.

By a 380-39 vote, the House approved bipartisan language tying about
$500 million of the aid to Colombia adopting tactics to eliminate drug
production by 2005, though Clinton could waive that requirement.
Colombia's military leaders would also have to be given powers to
crack down on human rights violations.

As expected, the House voted to add $4 billion to the measure for the
Pentagon for this year, including funds for upgrading helicopters and
AWACS radar warning planes, equipment repair, and military housing and
health care. The money, backed by House leaders to satisfy pro-defense
lawmakers who wanted a bigger defense budget for 2001, was approved
289-130.

Other parts of the bill also were under fire.

A group of bipartisan lawmakers wanted to make half the bill's nearly
$2.1 billion for U.S. forces in Kosovo contingent on European
countries stepping up their activity in the Balkan enclave.
Conservatives said the bill's overall price tag - nearly twice the
$5.5 billion Clinton now wants - was too hefty.

``We've sent too many of our soldiers on too many missions to too many
countries,'' said Rep. Greg Ganske, R-Iowa.

Even so, the bill seemed certain to be approved by a bipartisan
majority, testament to the election-year allure of spending money for
drug fighting and supporting American soldiers abroad.

Another attraction was hundreds of millions of dollars the measure
contained for lawmakers' home districts. Included was $40 million to
help Florida citrus growers whose trees have been damaged by the
citrus canker, $7.1 million for Southern California farmers whose
crops have been harmed by a bacterial disease, and $20 million for a
new Food and Drug Administration laboratory in Los Angeles.

The bill's ultimate fate is questionable. Senate Majority Leader Trent
Lott, R-Miss., has said he wants to shrink it and put the remnants
into spending measures for fiscal 2001 that Congress will write later
this year.

House leaders were hoping their chamber's passage would pressure Lott
into reconsidering. Clinton used a news conference Wednesday to urge
lawmakers to pass the bill ``without delay,'' and administration
officials sent letters to congressional leaders warning of harm to
various programs if the money is blocked.

The U.S. aid to Colombia is to be part of a $7.5 billion, three-year
effort announced last summer by Colombian President Andres Pastrana to
regain control over southern regions dominated by leftist rebels who
protect the drug trade. Most of the money would come from Colombia.

The U.S. aid includes money for training and equipping Colombian
troops and police, intelligence operations, giving farmers incentives
to grow other crops, and assisting neighbors Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia.

A year after the start of the 78-day air war against Yugoslavia, there
are 37,000 NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo, including 5,300 Americans.
Amid recent flare-ups of ethnic violence in the Yugoslavian province,
some lawmakers want European countries to contribute more for
rebuilding and maintaining security there.

The spending bill also includes $1.6 billion for rising Pentagon fuel
costs; $858 million for its fiscally ailing health care plan; $2.2
billion for victims of Hurricane Floyd, which battered North Carolina
last autumn, and other natural disasters; and $600 million for help
poor families pay utility bills.

All but $421 million of the bill would be paid for from this year's
projected $26 billion budget surplus.

In a nod to conservatives, the House voted 420-0 to approve an
amendment by Rep. Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., aimed at reserving $4 billion
of the surplus for debt reduction.
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MAP posted-by: Allan Wilkinson