Paul Plans Effort to Amend Supplemental Legislation PDF Print E-mail
FOR RELEASE: March 29, 2000

Paul Plans Effort to Amend Supplemental Legislation Calls Attempts to Fund Colombian Civil War "Unconscionable"

Washington, D.C. - Congressman Ron Paul has announced that he will introduce an amendment to a supplemental appropriations bill scheduled to be voted on by the House of Representatives this week. The thrust of the amendment will be to transfer Defense Department Appropriations now earmarked to be used in the Colombian civil war, into accounts that will assure, "that these funds are spent to defend the United States of America rather than to get us involved in the domestic politics of Colombia by way of further proliferation of a failed international war on drugs."
Although the details of the amendment are still being crafted Paul said that his goal "was to use this money to address a serious recruitment and retention problem that exists in our armed forces." Paul said that he would release further details on the amendment when they are finalized.
"My main point is this: we know from Defense Department studies that our resources are spread too thin and that men and women are leaving the armed forces because they continually receive lengthy assignments outside of the country and because they are underpaid. Moreover, we know that our military veterans are being denied the health care that was promised them when they agreed to serve our nation." Paul said it is his hope to craft an amendment that would address both pay and health care issues for veterans as well as for current service men and women, but that he would have to do so in conformity with the rules under which the bill will be considered.
"We need to be taking better care of our armed service personnel, both active duty and retired, it is simply unconscionable that we would consider funding new and expanded missions in Colombia with this bill. Everybody around here keeps saying what sorry shape our military is in and now we have a chance to put our money where our mouths are. We should be fixing the problems of military recruitment and retention by addressing the needs of service personnel, particularly those related to pay and health care. The last thing we need to do is to add yet another significant foreign mission on an already strained military, particularly when personnel have bluntly stated that these missions are a key factor contributing to our retention problems."
Paul concluded, "I encourage people from across our country to contact their Representative's offices immediately asking them if their support will go to stretching our military resources even thinner, or if they will support the Paul amendment to provide a fair shake to our service personnel."