[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 15]
[House]
[Pages 21249-21250]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



     CONCERNS REGARDING THE FOREIGN OPERATIONS APPROPRIATIONS BILL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Putnam). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. SOUDER. Mr. Speaker, tonight I would like to talk briefly about 
some concerns I have in the foreign operations appropriations bill, 
about some rumors that are circulating.
  The bill has passed the House and it has passed the Senate. As we go 
to conference, it is important that we address some of these concerns 
and we do not retreat on our anti-narcotics efforts.

                              {time}  1745

  I know Americans are deeply concerned about the anti-terrorism as I 
am, but in the process of focusing on the terrorism question, we should 
not retreat from our war on drugs. As my friend and the Democratic 
ranking member of the Committee on Government Reform, the gentleman 
from Maryland (Mr. Cummings), has said, we are in a chemical war in the 
United States. They have distributed illegal narcotics throughout our 
country. We are watching the Taliban to see if their heroin makes it 
over from Europe. They dominate the Europe and Asia markets, but 
clearly we have thousands of Americans dying of illegal drugs, which is 
a consistent problem.
  I want to talk first about an understanding that the Senate has been 
pushing to drop a drug certification. First, I do not think it should 
be dropped. I know countries do not like it. I met with our leaders and 
presidents in Mexico and throughout South America and in the Summit of 
the Americas. I know they do not like it. They do not like that it 
seems judgmental. But the truth is we have certification on human 
rights and we have certification on terrorism. Are we saying that we 
will drop all criteria for foreign aid and standards, including human 
rights and terrorism? We should not.
  It is important that we have an idea of which countries in the world 
are cooperating in our efforts against illegal narcotics, human rights 
and terrorism. And if we drop one because of judgment, all will be 
dropped. If we have

[[Page 21250]]

drop none, that would be the better point.
  Now, let me draw in some particular things. Mexico and Colombia as 
well as Peru and Bolivia have in fact responded and been aggressive. 
Certification is not about whether you have been successful but whether 
the government involved is doing its best to try to cooperate with our 
government, and Mexico has undertaken incredible efforts in the last 4 
years. Colombia has changed its government and has been fighting in the 
war ever since, as did Peru and Bolivia.
  What you need are a carrot and stick approach. In those countries 
when they elect leadership, they deserve to be rewarded with 
assistance. The point of being on the list is whether or not you get 
assistance.
  We do need to make some changes in the law. For example, we should 
not have to certify. The question should be is if you are in 
noncompliance and nonassistance then you should go on a list like in 
terrorism or human rights. In the drug certification question, in the 
drug list, it only applies to whether you are going to get aid. If you 
do not get aid you are not on the list.
  The second concern is the chopping down of the funds in the Andean 
Initiative. If we are to ever make progress, we cannot push in Plan 
Colombia. We have to look at the countries around Colombia. We cannot 
just focus on military. We have to focus on legal aid and economic aid. 
As we reduce the Andean Initiative, we will have wasted the money that 
is now going down into that area if we do not continue to follow 
through the strategy that we put in, which is we squeeze and put the 
pressure on the narco-traffickers in Colombia, but then as we start to 
move and as they start to transfer their planning and their trafficking 
to Ecuador to Peru and Bolivia and Brazil, we should not be backing off 
the efforts and spread the drug war to those countries. We need in the 
Andean Initiative to make sure that they are funded so our American 
drug addiction does not spread this terrible war to the countries 
around Colombia and, in fact, we can make progress.
  The drug issue is very similar to the terrorism question. Unless you 
can get it at its source, there is only so much we can do at the 
border, and once it gets across the border it is about impossible to 
tackle.
  We have worked with drug-free schools, drug-free communities, drug 
treatment, but in fact the closer we can get to the source the better. 
Just like in terrorism, once those terrorists come into our region and 
get across our borders, it is very hard to find them in a country that 
practices liberty.
  I hope in the Foreign Operations bill we do not back off with a new 
Democratic Senate and a new Republican President from our strong 
efforts against narcotics, either in the Andean Initiative or in the 
certification of nations who are not cooperating with the United 
States.

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