Providing for Consideration of H.R. 2764, the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2008

Floor Speech

PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 2764, THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS, AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008 -- (House of Representatives - June 20, 2007)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings), for yielding me the time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this open rule and the underlying bill, H.R. 2764, the State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2008. There is so much to praise in this bill: its emphasis on funding our core bilateral development programs; its emphasis on funding basic education, child survival and global health initiatives. And most importantly, its emphasis on providing for our national security and our global economic interests.

I would like to praise Subcommittee Chairwoman Lowey and Ranking Member Wolf and the Foreign Operations Subcommittee in particular for the work they have done on aid to Colombia. This bill makes some badly needed and long overdue changes to our aid program for Colombia. The results of the past several years, particularly where illegal drugs are concerned, made clear that it is time to try a different and more comprehensive approach.

The 2008 bill rebalances our priorities in Colombia. It recognizes that the response to violence, narcotrafficking and instability in our South American neighbor must be multifaceted, helping to guarantee lasting security through good governance.

Colombia is an important friend of the United States and it is the largest recipient of U.S. assistance outside the troubled Middle East region. Colombia deserves our support; and even though I have been a critic of many of our past policies, I have never and I will never advocate walking away from Colombia or its people.

The new approach in this bill will make our counternarcotics policy more effective by helping small farmers transition permanently away from illegal drug production, increasing funds to investigate and prosecute major drug traffickers, and continuing drug interdiction programs. Aerial fumigation and sporadic military offenses are no substitute for helping Colombia to govern its own territory. The results make that clear: 7 years and $5.4 billion later, the old policy has resulted in more coca growing in Colombia, and the price of cocaine on the streets of America is actually lower than before we started.

It is time for a change, for a new more balanced direction, and this bill provides more funding for judges and prosecutors, roads, clean water, jobs and aid for vulnerable people. It looks to fund the need of today's Colombia, not yesterday's. Many Colombians are working today to clean house in Colombia, going after politically powerful criminals who send drugs to our shores and wreak violence and mayhem in Colombia. The aid in this bill will help them. Success hinges on Colombia's judicial system which faces serious challenges. This bill provides them with new resources to meet those challenges.

Mr. Speaker, unless Colombia deals with the overriding issue of impunity, many of us are going to continue to fight for even more changes in our policy, restricting security assistance to the Colombian military which is responsible for a lot of the human rights violations, and we are going to continue to insist that no free trade agreement move forward until the human rights situation improves in Colombia.

If the United States of America stands for anything, it should stand out loud and foursquare for human rights. And for too many years, we have turned our backs on the harsh reality in Colombia where thousands of trade unionists have disappeared or been murdered, thousands of people have been victimized by security forces and their allies in the paramilitary forces.

We should not be sending money in a way that does not acknowledge that those security forces need to do better. Mr. Speaker, success also depends on Colombia's ability to govern and create employment, especially in the lawless zones where drug traffickers and paramilitary groups still operate. This bill allows USAID to expand badly needed efforts to those communities in coca-growing areas that up until now have been beyond our reach due to lack of funds.

Finally, success depends on Colombia's ability to care for and reintegrate victims of violence. This includes helping Colombia's internally displaced population which is second in the world only to Sudan. That is not a list you want to be on, Mr. Speaker. It means protecting people coming forward to testify who are seeking redress. It also means helping people recover stolen land through violence and helping Afro-Colombian and indigenous people who have been disproportionately hit by violence.

Mr. Speaker, this bill does a good job of achieving balance between economic development and security aid for Colombia. It demonstrates a level of support for Colombia's democratic future that we have not been able to articulate before now. I support this new balanced direction for Colombia, and I applaud the work of the Appropriations Committee for not only these provisions but for its judicious approach of supporting what works best in our global development programs.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source