Colombia: U.S. Assistance and Current Legislation

Publication Date: July 2001

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Economics

Type:

Coverage: Colombia

Abstract:

On February 7, 2000, the Clinton Administration, as part of its annual budget request, asked Congress for FY2000 supplemental appropriations of $954 million for assistance to Colombia and other Andean counternarcotics efforts. FY2000 allocated funding for Colombia, from appropriations made in 1999, already totals some $164.0 million. At the same time, the Administration requested $318 million for FY2001 assistance to Colombia and other regional efforts, in addition to the $150 million that it previously indicated it had planned to allocate to Colombia in FY2001.

The Clinton Administration's "Plan Colombia" program, as it became known, was intended to substantially increase the assistance provided to Colombia. The proposal's centerpiece was funding for the "Push into Southern Colombia" program, which would include training and equipping two new army CN battalions, and providing funding to purchase new and sustain existing Blackhawk and Huey helicopters to transport them. Other assistance was included for interdiction, resettlement of displaced persons, economic development, and programs to improve Colombian National Police (CNP) eradication capabilities and to support human rights monitors, improve the justice system and strengthen the rule of law.

The 106th Congress commenced action on the request on March 9, 2000, when the House Appropriations Committee approved an emergency supplemental appropriations bill (H.R. 3908, H.Rept. 106-521) that included some $1.4 billion in funding for FY2000 and FY2001 counternarcotics efforts in Colombia, its neighbors, and other parts of Latin America and the Caribbean. On March 30, the House approved that amount, placing conditions on the military assistance. On May 9, the Senate Appropriations Committee included $1.1 billion in FY2000 emergency supplemental Plan Colombia funding in its FY2001 Military Construction (S. 2521) and Foreign Operations (S. 2522) bills, placing extensive conditions on the assistance in both bills. These three measures were dealt with in the conference on the military construction appropriations bill (H.R. 4425, H.Rept. 106-710) with some $1.3 billion in emergency supplemental appropriations for Plan Colombia. As approved and signed into law (P.L. 106-246) on July 13, the bill included five human rights and two other conditions on aid to Colombia. Certification that these conditions had been met was required before the obligation of FY2000 and FY2001 funds, but the President could waive them on national security grounds. President Clinton waived six of the seven certification criteria on August 22, 2000, and he determined a second certification was not required on January 19, 2001, but submitted a report on progress regarding certification criteria.

On April 9, 2001, the Bush Administration requested $731 million in FY2002 funding for a broader regional strategy called the Andean Counterdrug Initiative that would include funding from the International Narcotics Control account (INC) for not only Colombia, but also Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela. In later references, the Bush Administration included other funding for those countries in a Andean Regional Initiative. As a result, total funding for the regional initiative, including the ACI, now stands at some $882.29 million.