The 2006 aid request

In February, the Bush Administration sent to Congress its 2006 request for Foreign Operations, explaining the military and economic aid it plans to provide to more than 150 countries next year. Of the $22.8 billion requested for the whole world, the administration called for $581.7 million to go to Colombia next year: $429.5 million in military and police aid, and $152.2 million in economic and social aid. (Another $150-200 million in miltary and police aid will reach Colombia through a different budget bill, the Defense Department appropriation, making the total 2006 request roughly $750 million total and $600 million military/police aid.)

Congress is considering the $581.7 million as part of the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, the annual foreign aid bill, for 2006. This includes the following accounts:

• The Andean Counterdrug Initiative (ACI), which funds both military and economic aid for Colombia and several of its neighbors. The ACI includes the cost of the aerial herbicide fumigation, over $200 million to maintain aircraft and helicopters that the United States has already donated, and several other military and police aid initiatives - as well as alternative development, aid to displaced persons, aid for civilian government institutions, human rights and rule of law programs. The Bush administration has requested $734.5 for the ACI in 2006, of which $484.1 million would go to Colombia ($331.9 million military/police aid, and $152.2 million economic/social aid).
• Foreign Military Financing (FMF), the main non-drug U.S. military-aid program worldwide. FMF would pay for several military aid projects, including protection of the Caño Limón-Coveñas oil pipeline in northeastern Colombia and support for the "Plan Patriota" military offensive in southern Colombia, among others. The Bush administration has requested $90 million in FMF for Colombia in 2006.
• Smaller programs like Anti-Terrorism Assistance ($3.9 million requested for 2006) and International Military Education and Training ($1.7 million) would add a bit more, most of it for training.

  The House of Representatives debated the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill in June. The Senate bill passed in July.

More detail about the 2006 aid request is available on the website of the Center for International Policy.