U.S. House Backs Funds To Fight Colombian Drugs

The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday rejected a
Democratic-led effort to cut U.S. contributions to the fight against
the Colombian drug trade and shift the funds to other priorities.

The House defeated several attempts to reduce the $676 million
targeted for President George W. Bush's Andean Initiative, which
would provide drug-fighting aid to Colombia and six neighboring South
American countries.

The money, included in a $15.2 billion foreign aid bill for the
fiscal year beginning in October, is designed to build on the $1.3
billion in aid approved last year for former President Bill Clinton's
"Plan Colombia," the cornerstone of an international effort to
stabilize the violence-torn country.

This year's money would pay for programs to increase the Andean
nation's legitimate economic development and judicial reform, as well
as eradicate and replace the coca crop.

The money also would pay for expanded counternarcotics aid to
Colombia's neighbors, which have faced spillover effects from the
trafficking by Colombian drug lords who produce almost all of the
cocaine sold in the United States.

Democrats, led by Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern, unsuccessfully
tried to cut $100 million in military aid and shift it to children's
health programs, saying Plan Colombia had not worked and the
increased military activity it fostered had led to an increase in
human rights abuses.

"This amendment is not about walking away from Colombia," McGovern
said. "It's about saying very clearly that human rights do matter."

Complicated Anti-Drug Struggle

Colombia's anti-drug struggle is complicated by the narcotics trade
involvement of paramilitaries and leftist rebels who have waged a
bloody, 37-year-old insurgency. Several army officers are under
investigation for coordinating killings with right-wing vigilantes.

"What we are trying to do is send a strong signal, a clear signal,
that the Colombian military must cut its ties to paramilitaries,"
McGovern said.

The foreign aid bill already includes $55 million less for the
Colombia drug-fighting effort than Bush requested. Republican
supporters argued it needed more time to work, saying the helicopters
and other U.S. aid promised the Colombian military were just
beginning to arrive.

The House rejected McGovern's amendment on a 249-179 vote.

The House also defeated 240-188 an effort to increase the bill's $100
million for a global trust fund to battle AIDS by $60 million. A
portion of those funds also would have been shifted from the
drug-fighting effort.

The House did approve 258-162 an amendment by Rep. Pete Visclosky, an
Indiana Democrat, to trim funding for the U.S. Export-Import Bank to
approximately $738 million and transfer $18 million to programs that
benefit children with polio and HIV/AIDS.

The initial bill included a total of $474 million for international
efforts to fight AIDS.

The foreign aid bill, which will be voted on later Tuesday by the
House, also fully funds the administration's requests for military
and economic assistance to Israel, Egypt and Jordan, including an
increase of $60 million in military assistance to Israel for a total
of $2.04 billion.