Statement by Rep. Herbert Bateman (R-Virginia), March 30, 2000

Statement by Rep. Herbert Bateman (R-Virginia), March 30, 2000
Mr. BATEMAN. Mr. Chairman, I thank the distinguished gentleman (Mr. Lewis of California) for yielding me this time. I do not rise in opposition to this amendment. I would not ask for a rollcall vote on this amendment.

I do have to tell my colleagues in the House that within the last hour, I have spoken to General Wilhelm; and General Wilhelm says that he does not believe this figure of a 300-person cap on military personnel in Colombia is realistic. And he does not know where it came from.

If there was going to be a cap, as he said in his statement before the committee, it should be properly considered and developed. This, I do not believe meets that test. I am not opposed to there being one. And I would hope in the course of the legislative process that that kind of deliberation on what the cap should be and what exemptions might be in order to that cap would be a matter that would be considered.

As of March 31, 2000, this document was also available online at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r106:H30MR0-20: