Joint letter by several U.S. non-governmental organizations, June 20, 2000

Joint letter by several U.S. non-governmental organizations, June 20, 2000
20 June 2000

Dear Senator:

We urge you to raise a point of order against Title VI -Plan Colombia, Chapter 1, of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Bill, 2001 (S.2522), which allocates $934,100,000 principally for Colombia.

Title VI (pp. 142 - 143) provides that "the entire amount is designated by the Congress as an emergency requirement pursuant to section 251 (b)(2)(A) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, as amended."

Section 205 of the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for FY 2001 (House Report 106-577) states that any legislation designated as an emergency under section 251 (b)(2)(A) or 252 (e) can be subjected to a point of order: (b) Point of Order.-When the Senate is considering a bill, resolution, amendment, motion, or conference report, a point of order may be made by a Senator against an emergency designation in that measure and if the Presiding Officer sustains that point of order, that provision making such a designation shall be stricken from the measure and may not be offered as an amendment from the floor."

A Senator may make a point of order against any emergency designation in an area that is not defense, according to Senate Parliamentarian Robert Dove.

The undersigned organizations approach this issue from a wide range of viewpoints, with views ranging from substantive to procedural objections, but all agree on the position that this allocation should be rejected by the Senate of the United States. We urge you to raise a point of order against Title VI, Chapter 1 of the Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill for 2001.

Sincerely,

John Berthoud
President
National Taxpayers Union

Robert L. Bixby
Executive Director
The Concord Coalition

Ralph DeGennaro
President & CEO
Taxpayers for Common Sense

David A. Keene
Chairman
American Conservative Union

William F. Schulz
Executive Director
Amnesty International USA

Sanho Tree
Director of Drug Policy Project
Institute for Policy Studies

George Vickers
Executive Director
Washington Office on Latin America

Ambassador Robert E. White
President
Center for International Policy