Speech by Rep.
Dan Burton (R-Indiana), March 15, 2006
Mr. BURTON
of Indiana. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.
The Clerk read as follows:
Amendment offered by Mr. Burton of Indiana:
Page 28, line 9, after the dollar amount, insert the following: ``(reduced
by $26,300,000) (increased by $26,300,000)''.
Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Chairman, I have discussed at length with
the chairman of the subcommittee from Arizona and the chairman of the
full committee the problems that we faced with Plan Colombia.
In the last 5 or 6 years, there have been 23 aircraft lost that are
vitally important to the drug interdiction problem that we are facing.
This chart shows you where the drugs are coming from and where they
are going according to our intelligence agencies. And once drugs, heroin
and cocaine, get beyond Colombia, 65 percent of them, almost two-thirds
of them, work their way into the United States onto the streets, into
the schools, into the playgrounds of this country.
President Uribe just came out up here recently and told us without the
additional assets that are asked for in this amendment, he will not
be able to do the job in dealing with the drug problem that we face
here in America. So we have to decide as a Congress are we going to
continue to fight the war against drugs or are we going to start acquiescing?
Are we going to start caving in?
GPO's PDF
According to President Uribe, they need 23 aircraft. We have talked
to the appropriators, and I really appreciate Mr. Kolbe for working
on this, and Mr. Lewis, the chairman. We have decided on a compromise
right now. I hope that will help President Uribe. It is not going to
solve the problem, but at least it is a step in the right direction.
What it does is provides three DC-3s, which will be able to surveil
the area and help us interdict these drugs that are getting beyond Colombia
and up into the United States. They have been doing a good job without
all the assets they need, and with these additional DC-3s, which have
all the technology that is necessary to police this area, it should
help a great deal.
Make no mistake about it. We still need the Hueys. We still need the
Blackhawks. Something like 70 percent of the aircraft they have used
in this area have been destroyed in the last 5 or 6 years, and they
need help down there. And President Uribe himself came all the way to
the United States to make a plea for this help.
I have talked to the Speaker about it as well as the leaders of the
Committee on Appropriations. And I hope my colleagues on the Democrat
side as well will see fit to support this. We have a war against drugs.
I have some colleagues who serve with me on the Government Reform Committee
that told me in Baltimore there is an 80 percent increase in the amount
of heroin usage in the minority community. If we are going to deal with
that problem, we have to provide the resources for President Uribe and
the Colombian national police and the Colombian military to deal with
this problem.
In addition to that, we have other problems in South America and Central
America that need to be dealt with which this equipment will also help
us with. And we also have the problem with possible terrorists coming
in. This surveillance effort will help in that regard as well.
I have a lot more things I would like to say, but I understand my time
is about expired. I hope you will accept this amendment and I really
appreciate you working with us.
" [Begin Insert]
Mr. Chairman, I thank Chairman HYDE, chairman Davis, Congressman Souder,
Congressman Chabot and the staff of the International Relations Committee
for their exceptional work on crafting this critically important amendment.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe is a key ally in the War on Drugs and
a strong ally in Latin America. Last year, under his leadership and
with U.S. and international support, Colombia succeeded in destroying
170,000 hectares of illegal coca (aerial and manual eradication), thus
removing a potential 150 metric tons of cocaine with a street value
of over $15 billion. Colombia's police and military forces captured
or shared in the capture of another 223 metric tons of cocaine and cocaine
base.
Despite these many successes, experience has taught us that if the cocaine
and heroin make it to the coasts of Colombia, it has a 65 percent chance
of getting into the United States. This is due, in part, to the reduction
in assets monitoring the trafficking routes. We have excellent intelligence,
we know where the smugglers are going but we lack the assets in theater
to properly intercept the drugs headed our way.
Since 2000, we have witnessed--and thanks to aggressive oversight efforts
by this Congress exposed--a nearly 70 percent reduction in military
Marine Patrol Aircraft (MPA) used to interdict these deadly drugs after
they reach the Colombian coast.
Furthermore, more than 23 aircraft including fixed wing spray planes
and helicopters of the Colombian National Police (CNP) have been lost
in action. The losses include both Black Hawk and Huey 2 helicopters
used by the police anti-drug units in support of high altitude eradication
of the opium corp. In 2003 alone, nearly 25 percent of the aircraft
used in spray operations were lost, and they have not been replaced
as of yet.
We cannot continue to enjoy even modest success at interdicting and
destroying these drugs unless we make up these losses.
The Burton Amendment will restore critical anti-narcotic air and surface
assets in the Colombian Navy and National police. The Amendment provides
for $99.4 million in counter-drug emergency assistance to help replace
some of the 23 Colombian National Police (CNP) aircraft lost in the
fight against narco-terrorism since 2000. The money will also would
provide three (3) new aircraft to serve as Marine Patrol Aircraft (MPA)
for the Colombian Navy's drug interdiction efforts. In addition, the
proposal will cover the operational and maintenance expenses for two
year for these new aircraft.
I know that many of my colleagues are concerned about the cost of this
amendment and the fact that we've asked for the funds to be considered
as emergency spending.
I would respectfully remind those of my colleagues who oppose this amendment
that the streets of America are awash in drugs. Because many of our
own military maritime and air interdiction assets were removed from
the Caribbean basin to deal with the challenges of homeland security
after 9/11, we have left critical gaps in our drug interdiction net.
The end result is that today the Central American Transit Zone is being
exploited by drug-traffickers like never before.
We ignore this problem at our own peril, as the very routes being used
to ship dangers narcotics to our shores could just as easily be used
to smuggle in terrorists or weapons of mass destruction. Although there
is no solid evidence yet of Central and South America traffickers and
Al-Qaeda, many law enforcement officials have commented on the positive
benefits to both groups from such a linkage. I believe it is not a question
of if Al-Qaeda will try to exploit this glaring hole in our security
net but when. The emergency is now and it is very real.
Spending this modest sum now to consolidate the major gains of the Plan
Colombia program and strengthen our homeland security effort will save
us far more money in comparison to the potential cost of cleaning up
the mess should we allow Plan Colombia to ultimately fail, or al-Qaeda
to exploit this situation to kill thousands more innocent Americans.
I respectfully ask my colleagues to vote for this amendment.
As of June
13, 2006 this page was also available at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/R?r109:FLD001:H51010
