[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2316]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



               URGING PASSAGE OF AID PACKAGE TO COLOMBIA

  (Mr. BALLENGER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BALLENGER. Madam Speaker, in a few weeks, the House will consider 
a supplemental appropriations bill that includes a much-needed 
comprehensive aid package to Colombia. The purpose of this package is 
to help that nation fight its war against the narco-
terrorists that threaten its very survival.
  We must help the Colombians fight the drug lords because in the 
process it will help us take Colombian drugs off our own streets. Right 
now, 80 percent of the cocaine and 75 percent of the heroin which 
enters this country this day comes from Colombia.
  While I believe that we must do our part to reduce the demand here, 
helping the Colombians fight the narcoterrorists where they live will 
slow the flow of drugs which are poisoning our own communities. 
Choosing not to help, as we did last fall, will only embolden the drug 
lords, who, in the absence of a comprehensive aid package, could more 
openly and freely continue peddling death to the American children.


  Madam Speaker, I urge the immediate passage of the aid package to 
Colombia.

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