Speech by Rep. Cass Ballenger (R-North Carolina), March 9, 2000

Speech by Rep. Cass Ballenger (R-North Carolina), March 9, 2000
AID FOR COLOMBIA (House of Representatives - March 09, 2000)

[Page: H760]
(Mr. BALLENGER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)

Mr. BALLENGER. Mr. Speaker, there are those who compare providing aid to Colombia to providing aid to Vietnam. This is an expected but faulty comparison.

Unlike Vietnam, the consequences for failure in Colombia will not be another fallen domino in a far-off land. It will be more drug-related deaths in our own streets among our own children. Without immediate action on the proposed aid package to Colombia, the drug lords will continue, largely unimpeded, to produce and distribute their deadly drugs which kill almost as many American kids and young adults each year as died in Vietnam. That, Mr. Speaker, should be a wake-up call.

Because Colombia is right here in our own hemisphere and not halfway around the world, what happens there will affect us more profoundly than what happened in Vietnam. The fact that Colombia is only 4 hours away by plane and can be reached by a car or truck, it becomes that much more important for us to help the country fight the narco-terrorists. The drugs which enter the United States each day from Colombia are far more of a threat to our national security than any Communist regime in Southeast Asia.

END

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