http://www.truthout.com/0472.Colombia_2.htm Conyers, Schakowsky, and Hoekstra, in bi-partisan effort, prevent Bush Administration from getting a blank check to escalate US involvement in Colombia WASHINGTON - 07.25.01 | Last night, Congressman John Conyers(D-MI ), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee and Dean of the Congressional Black Caucus, joined with Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Representative Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) sponsored an amendment to the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill striking language that would have otherwise allowed an escalation of US involvement in Colombia without Congressional notification. Mr. Conyers sponsored two additional amendments, one restoring congressional oversight over the provision of weapons and ammunition to Colombia for counter-narcotic purposes (co-sponsored with Reps. Schakowsky) and one prohibiting funds to be used for aerial fumigation of illegal crops(co-sponsored with Reps. Schakowsky and McKinney). Attention to the contractor-cap amendment had House Republicans so concerned that a unanimous consent agreement was developed by the Ranking Member on the Appropriations Committee, Rep. David Obey (D-WI), the Appropriations Foreign Operations Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) , and Rep. Conyers to limit debate on these topics and provide for a cap on US personnel in Colombia with notification requirements. Mr. Conyers stated: "When Plan Colombia was passed last year, Congress assured the public that the United States would not be getting involved in Colombia's 37 - year old civil war and there would be no 'mission creep'. The goal of the massive assistance to Colombia was to support counter-drug activities. Several safeguards were put into Plan Colombia to prevent an escalation of US involvement without Congressional oversight, including a 500-person US military cap and 300-person US civilian contractor cap." "The FY 2002 House Foreign Operations Appropriations bill maintained the 500-person cap on US military personnel in place for the new money under the Andean Regional Initiative. But, the bill language would have allowed the President to unilaterally break the 300-person contractor cap for Colombia, permitting unlimited increases of US civilian contractors without even notifying Congress." "What I found to be a little disconcerting was the fact that such an important change of policy that reneged on previous assurances was not mentioned in descriptive documents or in prepared congressional testimony. It was not mentioned in either of the two printed versions of the House Committee reports on the bill. It was not mentioned in the prepared testimony of Mr. Rand Beers, the Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Foreign Operations on July 11, 2001. It was not mentioned in the prepared testimony of Mr. James Mack, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs before the House International Relations Committee Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere on June 28, 2001. To my knowledge, there was no discussion about lifting the contractor caps without congressional notification at either of the hearings, which means our State Department colleagues did not offer up this important change of policy for debate. And while the legalese code letters and numbers that lift the cap were in the President's FY2002 budget request where he suggested actual bill language, no mention was made of lifting the cap without congressional notification in the textual explanation of the budget request where topics are supposedly written in plain English with justifications for the policy." "It is unfortunate that these omissions were made. Congressional oversight is especially important regarding how we spend millions of US taxpayer dollars in a country that is in the middle of a 37-year old civil war and has been spraying illegal crops for over fifteen years now with no real success. And it is critical, given that there is little transparency regarding contractor activities once the contractors are unleashed. The United States should not be outsourcing what are typically military functions. An unlimited escalation of such an approach would have been possible under the bill's language. Could it be that a dead contractor is less controversial that a dead US serviceperson?" "After amendments were printed in the Congressional Record late last week , there was such concern that I even received a call from the Central Command of the United States Southern Command inquiring about my amendments. I also received from Mr. Beers a phone call and then a hand-delivered letter. As my colleague, Representative Hoekstra stated, there were a lot of folks who were nervous (after our amendment surfaced and exposed their bill language)." "In this climate, once we got to the House floor, a unanimous consent agreement was reached. I and my colleagues, Ms. Schakowsky and Mr. Hoekstra then offered a new amendment that provided for safeguards against an unlimited increase of US civilian contractors without congressional oversight. It provides for an aggregate ceiling of 800 US personnel in Colombia, consisting of no more than 500 US military personnel. In counting to 800, the 300-person US civilian contractor cap may be surpassed but only to the extent the 500-person military cap has not been reached. This may be done only if the President certifies to the appropriate committees of the Congress that the 800-person aggregate ceiling is not surpassed by waiver of the contractor cap, and if Congress is notified of the extent to which the 300 contractor cap is exceeded. The amendment also prevented the unlimited provision of weapons and ammunition to Colombia for allegedly anti-narcotics purposes without congressional oversight. Our amendment passed by voice-vote." "It is my desire that any further increases in US civilian contractors include enough US AID development contractors or the like, to ensure that alternative economic development aid catches up to the pace of military and fumigation-related anti-narcotic aid. I am glad that through a bi-partisan effort, we were able to maintain a policy that prevents the United States from getting deeply involved in a Latin American conflict without the knowledge of the Congress or the American public. I hope my colleagues on the Senate side will do the same."
