Political Quotes

“I thank the gentlelady and Ranking Member Wolf for working with me throughout this process on an important issue that I have worked on for many years and that's Plan Colombia. As you know, Colombia is a critical U.S. ally in the region, and it's in our interest to cultivate this partnership to ensure that Colombia remains strong. I sincerely appreciate the chairwoman's efforts to address my concerns about the overall cuts to the program, particularly given the constraints of the bill. However, I still have concerns about funding levels provided for the Colombian aviation programs, as well as some of the certification requirements contained in the bill. Alternative livelihood, which the chairwoman is very interested in, and I am too, and other developmental projects are certainly vital to our overall effort in Colombia, but they can only be successful in areas where the Colombian Government maintains territorial control. That being said, I would like to continue working with the chairwoman and ranking member to address some of these issues as we move forward to conference.”