Speech by Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Massachusetts), March 27, 2003

Speech by Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Massachusetts), March 27, 2003
REMOVE COLOMBIA FROM THE SUPPLEMENTAL -- (House of Representatives - March 27, 2003)

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The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) is recognized for 5 minutes.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, we are facing the first supplemental spending request to fund the war in Iraq and its aftermath and to partially support critical needs for our own homeland security. I expect we will be taking up that debate as early as next week.

I believe it is important that this Congress is finally beginning to debate the costs and the consequences of this war and how it will affect our homeland security, something we have failed to do for the last 5 months.

However, as I read the fine print of the administration's request, I see additional military assistance for Colombia. What is Colombia doing in a supplemental for the war in Iraq? There is a request for $34 million in military aid for Colombia in the section for the Department of Defense/operations and maintenance to ``increase the operational tempo for the unified campaign against narcotics trafficking and terrorist activities.''

There is another $34 million in military aid for Colombia in the State Department section, and there is an unspecified amount for Colombia under the international assistance programs/international security assistance for

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foreign military financing, and it is my understanding that the State Department officials have informed some committee staff that Colombia's share of those funds will be around 36 to $37 million.
All told, that is another $100 million in additional military aid for Colombia. Mr. Speaker, that is more money than the State of Massachusetts will receive under the supplemental for critical homeland security priorities. It is more than most States will receive.

In Massachusetts, communities are laying off police, firefighters, and other emergency first responders. Dozens of our cities and towns have critical vacancies because many of our local police, our State police, our sheriffs, firefighters, and medical staff have been called to active duty and are right now serving in Iraq.

I have been told that there is just not enough money to help places like Seekonk or Worcester or Southborough fill these critical vacancies to keep our families safe; but apparently there is plenty of cash for Colombia.

Mr. Speaker, there is nothing that Colombia needs that cannot be handled through the regular authorization and appropriations process. Indeed, just last month on February 12, this Congress approved over $500 million for Colombia for fiscal year 2003, $400 million for the Andean Counterdrug Initiative, and another $99 million in foreign military financing.

For fiscal year 2004, the President has asked for more than $700 million for Colombia in the foreign operations and defense appropriations bills. Those bills will begin moving through subcommittee shortly after Congress returns from our April recess.

U.S. military and other aid for Colombia has been approved and is in the spending pipeline ready to go. On Monday, when he sent up the supplemental request, President Bush asked the Congress ``to refrain from attaching items not directly related to the emergency at hand.''

Mr. Speaker, Colombia falls into that category. These requests for Colombia are unrelated to the needs of our troops and our missions in Iraq and South Asia and unrelated to meeting the needs of our own homeland security; and I call upon the administration to withdraw the request for Colombia from this supplemental, and if that fails to happen, I ask the Committee on Appropriations to eliminate those requests and shift those resources to help our States and our communities meet critical hometown security priorities.

Mr. Speaker, I was in Colombia in February. I traveled to several sites throughout the country. I met with local military commanders, religious leaders, governors, mayors, labor leaders, school teachers, displaced families, indigenous peoples, Afro-Colombians, lawyers, the magistrates of the constitutional court, members of the Colombia Government and U.S. embassy staff. I was also in Colombia 2 years ago, and the difference is striking.

Sadly, Mr. Speaker, today the human rights situation is worse. The violence has increased. There is less political space for people to organize, speak out or voice alternatives to official policy. The country is increasingly militarized; and there is little support for basic economic development, unless it comes from other countries or the U.N.

The 40-year-old civil war in Colombia is dirtier and uglier than ever and shows no signs of ending anytime soon. The nature of the U.S. role in that war has changed. We are now more deeply involved in a counterinsurgency than ever before. Americans have died and are being held hostage by guerrilla forces. The Colombian military continues to work with awful right-wing paramilitary forces.

Mr. Speaker, I do not want to see American men and women dying in a war in Colombia where the Colombian military is still reluctant to engage directly insurgent and paramilitary forces. I think it is a mistake for the United States to escalate its military involvement in Colombia.

Some of my colleagues may disagree, but at the very least, this escalation deserves a full debate. We must not allow such a dramatic increase in our military involvement to pass without comment and votes. Congress must assert its proper role.

Withdraw the requests for Colombia in this supplemental. Put that money to better use by supporting our police and firefighters here at home.

As of April 18, 2003, this document was also available online at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/B?r108:@FIELD(FLD003+h)+@FIELD(DDATE+20030327)