DATE=6/22/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CLINTON-COLOMBIA (L)
NUMBER=2-263654
BYLINE=DAVID GOLLUST
DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: President Clinton is welcoming progress in the
Senate on his Colombia aid package and pressing
Congress to quickly finish work one the one-point-six-
billion dollar package aimed at helping the government
of President Andres Pastrana deal with drug
traffickers. V-O-A's David Gollust reports from the
White House.
TEXT: The Senate, which had earlier resisted White
House appeals to deal with aid to Colombia on an
expedited basis, Wednesday approved most of the funds
Mr. Clinton had proposed.
But the Senate version and its numerous amendments
must still be reconciled with a somewhat more generous
House of Representatives measure. As he left the
White House on a political fund-raising trip to two
western states, Mr. Clinton said the sooner the
Congress can demonstrate support for Colombia's
embattled democracy, the better:
/// Clinton Act ///
They're in the fight of their lives for their
very way of life, with the combined pressure of
a guerrilla war that's been going on for decades
and the rise of the narco-traffickers over the
last two decades. I don't think the average
American can imagine what it would be like to
live in a country where a third of the country
on any given day may be in the hands of someone
that is an enemy, an adversary, of the nation-
state.
/// End Act ///
Mr. Clinton said final approval would encourage
European and other would-be donors to join the United
States in supporting Colombian President Pastrana's
national reconstruction program.
The aid plan would provide training and material
support, including helicopters, for anti-drug units of
the Colombian military and national police.
Critics of the plan in both parties in Congress
contend it will inevitably draw the United States into
the Colombian government's long-running conflict with
leftwing rebels, while at the same time helping a
Colombian army accused of human rights abuses.
Proponents, however, say the package includes adequate
guarantees on human rights and on keeping U-S aid and
military trainers out of the guerrilla war.
The Colombia aid plan is part of an overall 13-and-a-
half-billion dollar foreign aid and military
assistance bill nearing approval in the Senate.
In his talk with reporters, Mr. Clinton also welcomed
progress in the Senate on the bill -- already approved
by the House -- giving China permanent, normal U-S
trade status.
The White House had feared that a lengthy amendment
process in the Senate might delay decisions on the
controversial China trade bill until September and
possibly cause it to fall victim to campaign politics.
But the president said Senate Majority leader Trent
Lott has promised timely action after Congress returns
from its Fourth-of-July, Independence Day, recess and
that he and the key Republicans are, as he put it, "on
the same page and working together" to complete work
by the end of next month. (Signed)
NEB/DAG/JP
22-Jun-2000 11:57 AM EDT (22-Jun-2000 1557 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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