[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 65 (Monday, May 20, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H2640-H2641]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       CONTROVERSIAL ASPECTS OF SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS BILL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, when the supplemental appropriation bill 
comes up this week, largely for defense purposes, the Republican 
majority will try to play games and use sleight of hand to slip an 
increase in the debt ceiling past the American people. These issues 
should not be linked. They should be voted separately.
  Yes, America has returned to the days of a growing budget deficit. 
The President's economic policy will reduce our surplus by nearly $1.7 
trillion. That is 42 percent. The government, therefore, is about to 
bump its head against the debt ceiling.
  This situation makes it all the more irresponsible, Mr. Speaker, for 
this Congress in the same bill to throw more than $100 million in 
taxpayer money to the wind to protect a private oil pipeline in the 
nation of Colombia. Yes, that is right. American taxpayers are being 
asked to pony up over $100 million to protect a private oil pipeline in 
a foreign country. This oil pipeline is owned by two multinational 
corporations and also by the Government of Colombia.
  I will be offering an amendment to strike the first $6 million down 
payment in funding in this bill to protect what is called the Cano 
Limon oil pipeline. Most Americans do not even know about this 
pipeline; but they should, because the Bush administration wants to use 
their tax dollars to protect it. This pipeline that pipes Colombian oil 
is owned by U.S.-based Occidental Petroleum, along with Repsol, a 
Spanish-Argentine combine, and Ecopetrol, which is an arm of the 
Government of Colombia.
  Can you believe it? This is where our lack of a national energy 
policy has led us, into the jungles of a Colombian war and into the 
middle of a civil war that has raged for two generations. The Bush 
administration wants Congress to spend American tax dollars to defend a 
pipeline that is owned by the Government of Colombia, a Spanish-
Argentine multinational corporation and Occidental Petroleum, an 
American-based multinational giant, to pump Colombian oil.
  When you think about it, this first $6 million is but a down payment 
on $104 million which is supposed to come later. This particular 
pipeline has been repeatedly attacked in Colombia's 38-year-long civil 
war.
  Occidental Petroleum is not a poor company. In fact, it earned 
profits of more than $2 billion over the last 2 years. So why in the 
world should the American people have to foot this bill?

[[Page H2641]]

This gift to Big Oil is a waste of our taxpayers' money and will only 
lead to other Big Oil giants lining up for similar corporate handouts. 
We are going backwards. We have gone from shoveling money into the 
pockets of American multinationals like Enron, that is outrageous 
enough, to shoveling money into the pockets of foreign multinational 
corporations and foreign governments.
  Where does it stop? Where do we draw the line? When do we adopt a 
real energy policy in this country that promotes biodiesel, ethanol and 
other renewable fuels and cures our addiction to foreign oil? How many 
wars do we have to fight? How many people have to die? How many 
taxpayer dollars have to be wasted to keep the foreign oil flowing?
  The Colombian army brigade that will be trained with these funds will 
protect a pipeline that, when operational, will pump about 35 million 
barrels per year. This adds up to $3 per barrel in costs to U.S. 
taxpayers to protect a pipeline for which Occidental currently pays 
security costs of about 50 cents per barrel. Very interesting. 
Moreover, as military Occidental Oil spokesman Larry Meriage admitted 
before Congress in February 2000, ``This pipeline is 483 miles long, 
and so there aren't enough troops in all of Colombia to protect that 
pipeline along its corridor.''
  Americans should not be in the business of paying for the protection 
of privately owned foreign oil pipelines abroad. We must act now to 
defeat this dangerous and wasteful pipeline protection proposal. If 
this $6 million down payment is provided now, it will be extremely 
difficult to stop the $98 million that is still due when the 2003 
foreign operations bill is debated later this year.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time to just say no. Say no to the Cano Limon 
pipeline. Say no to foreign oil. And say no to the Bush administration 
policy to keep our Nation addicted to foreign oil.

                          ____________________