[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6974-6975]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     WESTERN HEMISPHERE DRUG ELIMINATION TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS ACT

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the bill (H.R. 1379) to amend the Omnibus Consolidated and 
Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1999, to make a technical 
correction relating to an emergency supplemental appropriation for 
international narcotics control and law enforcement assistance, as 
amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 1379

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Western Hemisphere Drug 
     Elimination Technical Corrections Act''.

     SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS RELATING TO RESOURCES 
                   FOR ILLICIT NARCOTICS IN CERTAIN FOREIGN 
                   COUNTRIES.

       (a) Authorization of Appropriations.--Subtitle B of title 
     VIII of division C of the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency 
     Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1999 (Public Law 105-277), 
     is amended by adding at the end the following:

     ``SEC. 826. FURTHER MISCELLANEOUS ADDITIONAL RESOURCES.

       ``(a) In General.--There are authorized to be appropriated 
     for the Department of State for fiscal year 1999 such sums as 
     may be necessary to carry out section 481 of the Foreign 
     Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2291).
       ``(b) Rule of Construction.--Amounts appropriated pursuant 
     to the authorization of appropriations in subsection (a) are 
     in addition to amounts made available to carry out section 
     481 of such Act under any other provision of law.''.
       (b) Conforming Amendment.--Title VIII of division C of such 
     Act (Public Law 105-277) is amended in the table of contents 
     in section 801(b) by adding at the end of the item relating 
     to subtitle B the following:

``Sec. 826. Further miscellaneous additional resources.''.

       (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section 
     shall take effect as if included in subtitle B of title VIII 
     of division C of such Act (Public Law 105-277).

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Smith) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Crowley) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith).


                             General Leave

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that

[[Page 6975]]

all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and 
extend their remarks on this bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New Jersey?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  (Mr. SMITH of New Jersey asked and was given permission to revise and 
extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, this bill is designed to 
correct a minor drafting error which was omitted in the legislative 
provision that was passed last year as part of the Omnibus 
appropriation bill.
  Because the waiver of the requirement for authorization was omitted 
from last year's supplemental, certain unauthorized parts of the 
agreed-upon package of assistance for Latin America to continue to help 
with the suppression of drugs cannot move forward.
  In response, we have prepared an amendment to the underlying 
authorization bill. The change to the authorization will allow this to 
go forward as agreed upon in the statement of managers of the 
supplemental appropriations legislation.
  The Department of State supports this legislation and is anxious to 
get these programs going. It is important, we believe, to the 
jurisdiction of the Committee on International Relations that the 
statutory requirement that all spending on foreign assistance be 
authorized, or that such a requirement for authorization be waived by 
statute.
  All of this money has been appropriated and it will be spent. Our 
purpose here is to have it spent on the list that the Congress and the 
administration, and in particular General McCaffery, our drug czar, 
finally agreed upon. That is the list in the statement of managers 
accompanying the supplemental appropriations.
  Accordingly, I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. CROWLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill. This bill has been on 
and off the schedule today a few times, and I think we finally have a 
version that everyone is comfortable with. We are right to move this 
assistance to Peru, Columbia, Bolivia. Critical interests are at stake 
there. We have delayed this assistance long enough.
  This bill will allow the Agency for International Development to 
provide assistance to those three countries for alternative 
development, which is critical to helping those farmers move from the 
cultivation of illicit and illegal crops to cultivation of legitimate 
and licit crops.
  I was in Columbia recently, Mr. Speaker, to survey the damage of a 
recent earthquake in that country. The damage was unbelievable. 
Thousands were dead and tens of thousands were homeless. My colleague, 
the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Velazquez) and I were able to bring 
home to Queens two young girls who had been injured in that earthquake.
  The people of the United States have provided critical assistance to 
the suffering people of Columbia. We as a Congress should be doing the 
same, putting together emergency assistance to address that emergency 
in Columbia.
  I look forward to working with my colleagues to make sure that the 
suffering people of Columbia, ravaged by a tremendous earthquake, get 
the help that they need from the U.S. Congress. I support the bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my 
time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 1379, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  The title was amended so as to read:

       ``A bill to amend the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency 
     Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1999, to make a technical 
     correction relating to international narcotics control 
     assistance.''.

  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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