Speech by Rep. David Obey (D-Wisconsin), March 29, 2000

Speech by Rep. David Obey (D-Wisconsin), March 29, 2000
Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I start by reminding the House that there is no authorization for the action that we are about to take. This bill contains $1.3 billion as a downpayment on what will be at least a 5-year war in Colombia. Some say it is a drug war; some say it is a civil war. I think it is both.

I hate drugs. They destroy lives, and they destroy communities. But this amendment does not in any way limit funds to help the Colombian police, it does not limit funds for their helicopters, it does not limit funds for their intelligence operations or for the radar that we are supplying. I favor air interdiction.

All this amendment does is delay until after July 15 the $522 million downpayment on what will be at least a 5-year expanded military commitment which will involve ourselves unquestionably in a civil war. This delay simply gives the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on International Relations, and the Select Committee on Intelligence time to ask questions that this institution has an obligation to ask before we vote these funds.

Now, I understand our Speaker will close debate. I would ask him and I would ask my colleagues the following questions: Do we know what the 5-year full cost will be? We are told $1.3 billion for the first year. Do we know what we are going to have to spend over the entire 5 or 6 years?

Second, if U.S. advisors are kidnapped, what are our plans then? My colleagues ought to ask the administration, do they have a plan? If these few troops that we will train cannot control the 150,000 square miles of jungle in Colombia, what will we do next? Will we just quit? I doubt it. I do not know if the administration has an answer to that, and I do not know if the Speaker does. What can we do to make certain that we know what we are doing?

I would suggest one thing we ought to ask is why is it that we have not been allowed, through an amendment today, to offer drug treatment to more than 37 percent of Americans who need it? We have been denied that opportunity today. This may or may not be similar to Vietnam, but I do see one difference. The Gulf of Tonkin was debated for all of 40 minutes on this floor. This amendment will be debated for all of 20 minutes. That is the major distinction, I fear.

Mr. Chairman, there has been no real debate. We have not had a chance to get into it.

The gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman) said this bill cuts money for Colombia. It does not cut one dime. It simply delays $522 million until his committee and the gentleman from Missouri's (Mr. Skelton) committee can hold the hearings that ought to be held. We ought to have this authorized before we move ahead.

Mr. Chairman, I know the President of the United States is for this, and I know the Speaker of this House is for this, and I have had so many of my colleagues say to me, `Oh, I think you are right, we probably ought to delay this; but after all, you know the Speaker wants it.' I respect that. I would just remind my colleagues of one thing. On this issue, on all issues affecting our involvement in war, we are not to be the agents of the President; we are not to be the agents of the Speaker. We owe it to ourselves and our constituents in this body to exercise our own judgment on a crucial, crucial matter; and I beg my colleagues to do that this afternoon.

All my amendment does is to delay our decision until we know more about it than we know today. I do not think, given our history, that that is too much to ask.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

As of March 30, 2000, this document was also available online at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r106:H29MR0-173: