GOP: Merida plan likely to fail in House

WASHINGTON, May 13 (UPI) -- Ranking Republicans predict a $500 million measure to combat drug violence in Latin America will fail when the House votes on it Wednesday.

GOP lawmakers told the Washington Times they did not think the so-called Merida Initiative, named after the historic Mexican city in the Yucatan, would pass because it had been glommed on to a supplemental funding bill for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The supplemental spending bill is the not the appropriate vehicle for this particular funding initiative," said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.

Some Republicans added that they had doubts about the effectiveness of the plan on the assumption that Mexican law-enforcement agencies were riddled with corruption and would undermine the Merida program.

The Times said Mexico has been urging passage of the plan, which would improve coordination of anti-drug efforts among the United States, Mexico and nations in Central America.