Porter Goss

Mr. GOSS

Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of our time. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to quickly point to a few things. First of all, I am not sure that everybody really understands that the FARC is not just another political opposition group. This is a vicious guerilla band of people that this past weekend killed 26 policemen in Colombia, in one city, in Bahia del Puerto. They beheaded the chief of police and killed four children between the ages of 3 and 7, to say nothing of their mothers and other innocent victims. This is, unfortunately, routine business. This is the face of a terrorist insurrection against a democratic government. Secondly, I would like to point out, the much-discussed Rand report talking about how much more we get out of our money for treatment, that is interesting if we are talking about treatment, but we are talking about trying to stop people from becoming victims. We do not want them to become addicts. We do want to treat the addicts, but we want to stop our youth from becoming addicts by making sure there is no supply for them. That is a legitimate part of what we are about. The third thing is, there are many elements to this bill that were not discussed today: Kosovo burdensharing, a critical bipartisan amendment that I know will get a lot of attention as the day goes on. The fourth thing, some talk about entanglement. We are not sending an expeditionary force, we are sending training and logistics support. Fifth, what does this matter to the average American who does not necessarily know where Colombia falls on the map of the world? I will tell Members what it matters, it matters about our kids, our kids who are tempted by the scourge of drugs. We are dealing with our children and our grandchildren and their future. If Members do not like that, we are dealing with the price of gas, because gas comes from this area, too. Destabilization in this area is just going to keep the price of gas higher longer. So there are lots of ways Members can bring this personally to themselves and into their lives, to their pocketbook, to their quality of life. But nothing, nothing should take second place to the well- being of our kids and us doing our job to make sure they are properly protected. This is a good open rule, it is a fair rule. I urge support for the rule.

Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution. The previous question was ordered.

Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Traficant).

Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis), the distinguished subcommittee chairman of the Committee on Appropriations.

Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Hansen). (Mr. HANSEN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier), the chairman of the Committee on Rules.

Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to the time remaining.

Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I would point out to all Members, as they all know, that an open rule is an open rule under the Rules of the House. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon).

Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Kuykendall).

Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, perhaps the gentleman from Massachusetts would like to continue the rotation.

Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter).

Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Mr. Goodling). (Mr. GOODLING asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. GOSS

Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 450 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. GOSS

Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Res. 450, the resolution just adopted.

Mr. GOSS

Mr. GOSS. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman), the distinguished chairman of the Committee on International Relations, for yielding me this time. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this bipartisan amendment. It is a strong statement of the U.S. effort to deal with the human rights issue. It is an amendment with teeth, and it deserves the support of every Member of this House. We know we have to be especially sensitive to possible human rights abuses by recipients of U.S. assistance. We understand that. The American people deserve to know that we have done our very best to ensure that their tax dollars do not distribute to such horrific activities, the kinds of things we read about with disgust. The gentleman from New York explained that the amendment does several things, but I want to focus on what I believe is the critical part. It prohibits any military assistance from being made available until the President of the United States certifies to Congress the following: first, that Colombia has a sound strategy to eliminate illicit drug cultivation by 2005. If the U.S. is going to provide assistance, we reason, we better make certain our partner is up to the task and has the tools to do it. Second, that the Colombian armed forces have the authority to deal with human rights violators in their ranks. This is a new departure, and it is critical; and it is part of the deal. Third, that the Colombian military is cooperating with civilian authorities in the investigation and prosecution of gross human rights abuses. These three requirements really get to the crux of the debate. They ensure that U.S. money is being provided to a partner that shares our determination to put the drug traffickers out of business and our commitment to do so in a way consistent with U.S. values and human rights concerns. On top of that, we have added a few dollars to make sure that the monitoring capabilities of our U.S. embassy and other appropriate concerns are fully provided for.

Mr. GOSS

Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Mr. GOSS

Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I reclaim my time and assure the distinguished gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Moakley) that the next piece of business we hope to see on the floor which I am about to call up will give us the opportunity to discuss further matters of interest that he has raised.

Mr. GOSS. Reclaiming my time from the chairman, I yield further to the distinguished ranking member.

Mr. GOSS. I yield to the gentleman from California.

Mr. GOSS. Reclaiming my time, I can assure the gentleman that is my understanding. We are fortunate to have the chairman of the Committee on Rules here who can give the gentleman further assurance. I shall yield to him.

Mr. GOSS. Of course, I yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts.

Mr. GOSS. The gentleman is correct.

Mr. GOSS

Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I move the previous question on the amendment and on the resolution.

Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, this amendment waives clause 3(b) of House Rule 13, which requires each committee report to include specific vote information from that committee's markup session. All Members are familiar with that. This amendment is necessary to address an inadvertent technical error in the report of the Committee on Budget to accompany H. Con. Res. 290. Specifically, on page 88 of the report, the rollcall vote on the motion to report the concurrent resolution fails to indicate how the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Hooley) voted, although her vote is reflected in the total vote. Again, this is an inadvertent technical error in the report that is not intended to be captured by clause 3(b) of House Rule XIII.

Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Davis).