Congress Doubles the Limit on U.S. Troops in Colombia - October 14, 2004
By Adam Isacson, Colombia program coordinator
October 8, 2004
A House-Senate conference committee has completed work on a compromise version of the 2005 Defense Department Authorization Act (H.R. 4200). In the text made public this morning, the revised bill fully grants the Bush administration's request to double the number of U.S. military personnel allowed on Colombian soil, from 400 to 800. It also grants the administration's request for a 50 percent increase in the permitted presence of U.S. citizens working for private contractors in Colombia, from 400 to 600.
The consensus bill will next be approved by both houses of Congress - a step that is usually little more than a formality - after which President Bush will sign it into law.
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