Chris Smith: “this bill is designed to correct a minor drafting error which was omitted in the legislative provision that was passed…”

“this bill is designed to correct a minor drafting error which was omitted in the legislative provision that was passed last year as part of the Omnibus appropriation bill. Because the waiver of the requirement for authorization was omitted from last year's supplemental, certain unauthorized parts of the agreed-upon package of assistance for Latin America to continue to help with the suppression of drugs cannot move forward. In response, we have prepared an amendment to the underlying authorization bill. The change to the authorization will allow this to go forward as agreed upon in the statement of managers of the supplemental appropriations legislation. The Department of State supports this legislation and is anxious to get these programs going. It is important, we believe, to the jurisdiction of the Committee on International Relations that the statutory requirement that all spending on foreign assistance be authorized, or that such a requirement for authorization be waived by statute. All of this money has been appropriated and it will be spent. Our purpose here is to have it spent on the list that the Congress and the administration, and in particular General McCaffery, our drug czar, finally agreed upon. That is the list in the statement of managers accompanying the supplemental appropriations. Accordingly, I urge my colleagues to support this bill.”