SENATE APPROVES $1 BILLION FOR THE COLOMBIAN MILITARY

WASHINGTON, June 21 -- The Senate endorsed an aid package of nearly $1
billion tonight to help Colombia equip and train security forces to combat
drug traffickers in a country where the narcotics trade and guerrilla
insurgency support each other.

While the Senate delayed final passage of the legislation containing the
aid until Thursday, that outcome was not in doubt, and senators completed
work on the parts of the bill dealing with Colombia.

The Senate has now set aside a total of almost $1.3 billion for assistance
to Colombia over the next two years, counting $300 million in an earlier
military bill.

In late March, the House approved $1.7 billion over two years in emergency
spending for the nation, one of Washington's most important Latin American
allies.

Anticipating important votes in the Senate today, House and Senate
Republican leaders met this morning to discuss how to reconcile the two
competing versions of the package, which have several crucial differences,
and find a legislative vehicle for the eventual compromise that both
chambers can vote on quickly, perhaps before the July 4 recess.

In recent weeks, President Clinton and President Andres Pastrana of
Colombia have appealed to Congressional leaders to rush passage of an
anti-drug plan to help Colombia and other Andean nations. The plan is
backed by top Republican leaders like Representative J. Dennis Hastert, the
House speaker, and Senator Paul Coverdell of Georgia.

"Colombia is the heart of the drug war, and we'd better get on with it,"
Mr. Coverdell said.

"If we lose in Colombia, then we lose everywhere."

But critics argued in debate today that the aid package would ensnare the
United States in an open-ended conflict that has claimed tens of thousands
of lives over 40 years.

"The capacity of this body for self-delusion appears to this senator to be
unlimited," said Senator Slade Gorton, Republican of Washington. "There has
been no consideration of the consequences, cost and length of involvement.
This bill says, let's get into war now and justify it later."

The decisive votes today came on two amendments to reduce or shift some of
the $934 million earmarked this year and next for Colombia in a foreign aid
bill.

By 89 to 11, senators defeated an amendment by Senator Paul Wellstone,
Democrat of Minnesota, to transfer $225 million in aid from the Colombian
military to drug treatment and prevention programs in the United States.
The Senate then defeated, by 79-19, an amendment by Mr. Gorton to cut the
aid package to $200 million, from $934 million.

Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, the White House drug policy director, released the
following statement today while traveling in Asia, anticipating the overall
bill's final approval on Thursday: "The Senate's work is a crucial step
toward final Congressional approval of the package that will greatly
enhance counterdrug efforts in Colombia and neighboring Andean countries in
their struggle against illicit production and trafficking, and drug-funded
criminal organizations."

In debate this week, senators have not disputed that the United States must
help Colombia, which is the source of 90 percent of the cocaine and 65
percent of the heroin seized in this country.

But critics have warned that Washington was being pulled more deeply into a
civil conflict so convoluted that two leftist guerrilla armies are fighting
the government, right-wing paramilitary forces are fighting the guerrillas,
guerrillas are providing paid protection to drug traffickers, and civilians
are trapped in the middle.

"I recognize that Colombia is a country in crisis," said Senator Russell D.
Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin.

"But we're not walking into this scheme with our eyes wide open."

Now to reconcile House and Senate versions of a big aid package.

The backbone of the aid package is an armada of helicopters and more than
$500 million for the Colombian Army and police.

A major difference between the House and Senate bills is the helicopter of
choice. The House package includes 30 Blackhawk helicopters, which have
longer range and can carry more troops than the 60 Huey choppers that the
Senate approved. The Blackhawks cost $12.8 million each, according to
administration figures, as opposed to $1.8 million each for the Hueys.

The Senate version also provides more aid to other Andean countries than
the House bill, and for protecting human rights in Colombia.

Supporters of the aid package framed the debate not only in terms of
backing an ally, but also as a crucial step in fighting drugs in the United
States.

"The very essence of why we need to help restore stability in Colombia and
help combat the violent insurgents is the need to keep drugs off our
streets," said Senator Mike DeWine, Republican of Ohio.

Disagreements between House and Senate leaders over how to handle the
Colombia aid have delayed final Congressional approval of the package and
have strained relations between Senator Trent Lott, the majority leader,
and Mr. Hastert.

The House approved the Colombia aid as the centerpiece of a $12.7 billion
emergency spending bill that also financed the Pentagon's peacekeeping
operations in Kosovo and disaster relief to farmers in North Carolina.

But Mr. Lott decided to roll the Colombia package -- into Congress's
regular appropriations process for this year.

Mr. Clinton's senior advisers have recommended that he veto the overall
foreign aid bill because of cuts to several international programs and
other provisions the administration objects to.

In any case, senators said tonight that they fully expected the Colombia
aid to be detached from the foreign operations bill and tacked on to some
other must-pass spending bill to ensure fast passage in the House and Senate.