The U.S. House of Representatives today passed the 2007 foreign operations appropriations bill which includes Congressmen Patrick McHenry’s (R-NC) amendment barring the State Department from issuing waivers to foreign countries that refuse to extradite anyone who allegedly killed a law enforcement officer in the United States.

“Killing a police officer is one of the most egregious crimes,” Congressman McHenry said, “and we should have the right to seek justice for the families of slain officers. My amendment puts teeth back into the original legislation and will put the pressure on countries who gladly take our money while thumbing their noses at our laws.”

The appropriations bill prohibits aid to any country that fails to extradite suspects accused of killing federal, state and local law enforcement officers – including police officers, judges, parole officers or any officer in the criminal justice system. However, it allows the Secretary of State to waive the prohibition if she certifies to Congress that the application of the restriction to the country or countries is contrary to the national interest of the United States.

Congressman McHenry’s amendment strikes the waiver exception, so the State Department would be prohibited from providing assistance to any country that refused a U.S. extradition request, regardless of national interest concerns.

This amendment was originally offered last year by Congressman McHenry and Congressman Bob Beauprez (R-CO) and passed in the House by a vote of 327-98. The State Department’s waiver option was inserted in the legislation during the House-Senate conference following the bill’s passage in the House. McHenry’s amendment returns this legislation to its original intent, prohibiting foreign assistance funds from being provided to countries that refuse to extradite to the U.S. individuals accused of killing a law enforcement officer.

The McHenry-Beauprez legislation was initially written after several cases where police officers were allegedly murdered by illegal aliens who then fled abroad, and have not face extradition due to foreign laws prohibiting extradition when capital crimes are involved. One case involves a convicted felon, now in Mexico, who had been deported three times before allegedly killing Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy David March in 2002. The felon remains there today, essentially escaping justice.

“When countries do not extradite their most violent criminals, it actually creates a twisted incentive to be even more violent in their crimes,” Congressman McHenry said on the House floor earlier today. “The more violent the crime, the tougher the sentence here in the United States; and the tougher the sentence, the less likely it is that these cop-killers will be extradited.”

“My amendment eradicates this brutal incentive that puts our law enforcement officers at heightened risk,” McHenry added.

The McHenry amendment was agreed to by voice vote today in the House as part of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2007 (H.R. 5522). The appropriations bill passed in the House today by a vote of 373 to 34.