U.S. AID FOR COLOMBIA HEADS FOR DEBATE, VOTE

WASHINGTON -- Emergency funding to fight the drug war in Colombia --
stalled since it was approved by the House in March -- appears headed for
debate and a possible vote in the Senate.

Amid tensions between the State Department and the Senate's Republican
leadership, Majority Leader Trent Lott's office said Friday that the
anti-drug package will "most likely" be tacked onto the first spending bill
considered by the Senate in May.

The $1.7 billion package for Colombia passed the House in March as part of
a nearly $13 billion emergency spending bill. The measure immediately
stalled in the Senate when Lott, R-Miss., objected to what he called
nonemergency items that jack up the bill's price tag.

Lott bristled at assertions by the Clinton administration that drug
producers were gaining ground because the emergency aid legislation was
languishing in the Senate.

"This administration sat on its hands for seven long years while the
security and economic situation in Colombia deteriorated dramatically,"
Lott said Friday. "For these officials to suggest that the Congress is
somehow to blame for an increase in coca production in Colombia is politics
at its worst."

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said that, since Clinton requested
the emergency aid in January, drug production has continued to increase
unchecked.

"The impact of this foot-dragging is already being felt in Colombia,"
Albright told the Hispanic Council on International Relations on Wednesday.
"It is in our interests to provide (the aid) -- not eventually, but now."

Colombia is embroiled in a 30-year-old civil war with Marxist rebels who
profit from the drug trade.

The State Department reported last month that Colombia produces about 80
percent of the world supply of cocaine and that the United States is the
world's largest market for the drug. The report also estimated that
Colombian cocaine production rose 20 percent last year.

Peter Romero, the acting Assistant Secretary of State for Western
Hemisphere Affairs, characterized Colombian President Andres Pastrana --
who has two years left in office -- as the linchpin in the international
effort to end the country's turmoil.

"His track record thus far has been very good, particularly as it relates
to human rights and his desire for reform and fighting corruption," he
said. "We may not get another Pastrana. We have a rare opportunity right now."

State Department officials say that -- once the emergency bill is approved
- -- it could take up to a year to deliver the entire fleet of 42 high-tech
helicopters promised to the Pastrana administration.

Officials say U.S. teams are nearly ready to train two more Colombian
anti-drug battalions. Using funds approved earlier, the United States
already has trained one of Colombia's 900-man battalions.

While the Colombian aid could be passed by the Senate as part of a regular
spending bill -- such as the annual Military Operations bill -- Lott's
office said the aid will be treated as part of the current 2000 budget,
which would allow the assistance to reach Colombia immediately after approval.

Other emergency funds awaiting Senate approval include about $2 billion for
peacekeeping operations in Kosovo and over $2 billion for Hurricane Floyd
and other disaster relief in the United States.

The rest of the House-approved emergency spending measures may be delayed
and considered as part of 2001 budget, which would take effect Oct. 1.