The 2008 foreign aid bill has emerged from a House-Senate Conference Committee as part of a huge consolidated budget bill made public this morning.
Here is our best estimate of what Colombia aid will look like next year. Recall that (1) the Bush administration requested that 76% of Colombia aid in the Foreign Operations funding bill be military and police aid; (2) the House reduced that proportion to 55% in June; and (3) the Senate reduced it to 63% in September.
The final bill calls for $545.6 million in aid to Colombia next year, $44 million less than the Bush administration requested. This outlay would be 56.6% military and police aid, a proportion that more closely resembles the House bill.
Military and police aid would be reduced by $141.5 million below the Bush administration’s request, a 31 percent cut. Economic and social aid, including large increases for Colombia’s justice system, would be increased by $97.4 million above the Bush administration’s request, a 70 percent increase.
| Foreign Operations Aid Only |
2007, estimate |
2008, White House request |
2008, House version |
2008, Senate version |
2008, Conference |
| Military and Police Assistance |
462,670,000 |
450,210,000 |
289,842,000 |
361,716,000 |
308,716,376 |
| Andean Programs / Andean Counterdrug Initiative |
366,421,000 |
366,968,000 |
236,600,000 |
288,474,000 |
245,474,376 |
| Foreign Military Financing |
89,100,000 |
78,000,000 |
48,000,000 |
68,000,000 |
55,500,000 |
| NADR – Anti-Terrorism Assistance |
5,176,000 |
3,315,000 |
3,315,000 |
3,315,000 |
3,315,000 |
| International Military Education and Training |
1,673,000 |
1,500,000 |
1,500,000 |
1,500,000 |
1,500,000 |
| NADR – Humanitarian Demining |
300,000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| NADR – Small Arms and Light Weapons |
0 |
427,000 |
427,000 |
427,000 |
427,000 |
| International Narcotics Control and Law Enf. |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2,500,000 |
| Economic and Social Assistance | 132,250,000 (22.2%) |
139,500,000 |
240,800,000 |
209,032,000 |
236,891,624 |
| Andean Programs / Andean Counterdrug Initiative |
132,250,000 |
|
|
|
|
| International Narcotics Control and Law Enf. |
|
|
22,300,000 |
44,535,000 |
40,891,624 |
| Economic Support Fund |
|
139,500,000 |
218,500,000 |
164,497,000 |
196,000,000 |
| Total Foreign Operations Aid | 594,920,000 | 589,710,000 | 530,642,000 | 570,748,000 | 545,608,000 |
However, there is more military aid than appears here. The above table includes only aid within the Foreign Operations budget bill. We know that in 2006, Colombia received about $133 million in additional military aid through the Defense Department budget bill. Were Colombia to receive a similar amount in 2007 and 2008, the proportions would be much more lopsided toward military aid.
Nonetheless, all aid to Colombia in 2008 would be 65 percent military under the new legislation, where it would have been 81 percent military had the Bush administration’s request gone through unchanged.
| Foreign Operations and Defense Aid |
2007, estimate |
2008, White House request |
2008, House version |
2008, Senate version |
2008, Conference |
| Military and Police Assistance |
595,650,000 |
583,190,000 |
422,822,000 |
494,696,000 |
441,696,376 |
| Economic and Social Assistance | 132,250,000 (18.2%) |
139,500,000 |
240,800,000 |
209,032,000 |
236,891,624 |
| Total Aid, All Sources | 727,900,000 | 722,690,000 | 663,622,000 | 703,728,000 | 678,588,000 |
Human rights conditions, which applied to 25 percent of military aid in the past, now apply to 30 percent, though their language is largely unchanged.
The conference committee’s report mandates the following earmarks for Colombia aid:
- $196 million in Economic Support Funds must pay for USAID programs in Colombia.
- At least $20 million in International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) funds must go to the Office of the Prosecutor-General (FiscalÃa):
- $5,000,000 for the Human Rights Unit
- $5,000,000 for the Justice and Peace Unit
- $7,000,000 to develop a witness protection program for victims of armed groups
- $3,000,000 for investigations of mass graves and identification of remains
- $8 million in INL funds must go for human rights activities
- $5.5 million in INL funds must go for judicial reform
- $3 million in INL funds must go to the ProcuradurÃa
- $2 million in INL funds must go to the Defensoria del Pueblo
- $750,000 in INL funds must go to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia
- $5 million in Foreign Military Financing funds must go to medical and rehabilitation assistance, removal of landmines, and communications capabilities.
