COLOMBIA AID BILL DRAWS SKEPTICISM

The most interesting aspect of a $13 billion supplemental appropriation
passed by the House, including emergency spending for the failed Kosovo
operation and a hefty $1.6 billion for aid to Colombia, was the emergence
of a growing bipartisan skepticism about overseas adventures. The coalition
of skeptics - or should that be realists? - didn't carry the day. But it
showed surprising muscle. And the bill could run into more trouble in the
Senate.

A supplemental appropriation is perhaps the worst way for the government to
spend money. It's an acknowledgement that the current budget was poorly
designed, that it didn't take certain spending desires into account (or
that the constituency for some programs wasn't sufficiently organized). A
supplemental appropriation generally groups disparate odds and ends into
one bill, including some programs for which committee hearings and
oversight have not occurred.

This bill fit the pattern. It included $40 million for Florida citrus
growers whose trees have been damaged by a disease, $20 million for a new
Food and Drug Administration lab in Los Angeles, and relief for North
Carolina and other states hit by hurricanes. The main elements, however,
were $2.1 billion for the mission in Kosovo and $1.6 billion for Colombia,
whose 40-year civil war has intensified lately because of complications
arising from the drug war.

As expected - especially since House Speaker Dennis Hastert supported it so
strongly - the bill passed, 289-146. But the most telling votes came on
certain key amendments.

The best showing by the skeptics came on an amendment from House Budget
Chairman John Kasich to withhold half of the U.S. funding for Kosovo
operations until certification that European Union countries step up their
funding commitments. It got 200 votes (152 Republicans, 46 Democrats, 2
Independents), but spending advocates mustered 219 votes.

An amendment from Democratic Rep. David Obey of Wisconsin to cut half the
funding for counter-narcotics programs in Colombia got 186 votes (58
Republicans, 127 Democrats, 1 Independent) to 239 against.

An amendment from Minnesota Republican Rep. Jim Ramstad to eliminate all of
the funding for the Colombian intervention failed, 158-262.

Kevin Zeese of Common Sense for Drug Policy found these numbers heartening.
"We had expected to get perhaps 80 or 90 votes against the Colombian
package," he said. "We now have a solid bipartisan nucleus whose influence
could eventually change U.S. drug and foreign policies."

The best news was that Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, normally not much
of a boat-rocker, is appalled at how this bill grew from $5.2 billion to $9
billion. "It is too costly," he told The Associated Press, "and I will do
what I can to block it" - although he favors money for Kosovo and Colombia.

The longer this proposal is delayed, the more likely opposition will increase.

As it should.