Barbara Boxer: “Again, I represent the largest State in the Union. My friend represents a smaller State. I would just say, maybe it is…”

“Again, I represent the largest State in the Union. My friend represents a smaller State. I would just say, maybe it is my State, but when I see these figures coming back--and my friend is a leader in the whole issue of crime prevention and being tough on crime and all the rest, and he knows it is true that if you look at the arrests for violent crime in our country--I could say particularly in California, 50 to 75 percent of the perpetrators are high on drugs. So all my friend from Minnesota is saying in his amendment is everything the Senator said about President Pastrana, everything he said about the need to help his country--I don't argue with that. That is why I am proud of this amendment. Everything is left in except getting us involved in this counternarcotics insurgency, which may well put us in a situation where we find ourselves between two bad actors: the FARC on the one hand, with a horrible story of violence and human rights violations, and the paramilitary on the right-hand side here, with the same horrible record. Unfortunately, it ties to the military in Colombia. So here we are, giving us a chance to do all the good things in this appropriations bill that we are happy are in there, but to take out the one for $225 million, that could lead us into trouble. Here is the Boston Globe. They talk about targeting addiction. They say: The Clinton proposal for U.S. intervention in Colombia's Civil War---- And that is what is being supported on this floor.”