Rep. Dan Burton (R-Indiana) is the ranking Republican on the House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. He has been one of the House’s staunchest defenders of a mostly military U.S. aid program in Colombia.
At a subcommittee hearing [PDF] about Colombia in late April, however, Rep. Burton indicated that his position on aid to Colombia might be evolving:
Well hey, listen, I am for doing whatever it takes to stop it down there. You favor a 50/50 split, Mr. Schneider [witness Mark Schneider of the International Crisis Group], military to soft side. I might be open to something like that if you do not favor cutting the total of $700 million per year.
Rep. Burton said this before the House Appropriations Committee did just that. The committee’s draft of the 2008 foreign aid bill – approved last week and likely to come up for debate in the full House as early as this Wednesday – makes a slight cut, but overall aid would stay at about $680 million. However, the draft bill takes a big step toward a 50-50 split between military and economic aid. It would change the makeup of Colombia aid from 76%-24% military to economic, to 55%-45% military to economic. (Add aid from the Defense appropriation, and the real overall proportion moves from 82% military to 65% military.)
Seven weeks later, Rep. Burton’s view of the aid balance seems to have shifted back. He told the Inter-American Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor last Wednesday:
What makes this change in the FY08 Foreign Operations Appropriations increasingly troublesome is that the remaining funding will move from the previous allocation of 76 percent security-focused and 24 percent focused on social development to a 55-45 percent split. The only outcome can be increased coca growth due to less funding for security forces within the country and reduced aerial fumigation. Without aerial assets for police and military to reach remote regions, necessary social programs are doomed to failure, for without security, nothing works. This is a grave oversight on behalf of our Congress.
There is a strong likelihood that Rep. Burton will introduce an amendment during this week’s debate seeking to “redress the imbalance” between military and non-military aid. Unless, of course, he “remains open” to trying something new.
