WASHINGTON -- Money alone will not fix the problems of drug violence and corruption in Colombia, but $1.6 billion will go a long way toward bolstering democracy there, the Clinton administration said Tuesday.

The White House proposed a package for the South American nation that President Clinton said will stem the production and export of illegal narcotics, while supporting economic development and improving human rights in Colombia.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is flying to Colombia this weekend to explain the package.

A U.S. official, who asked not to be identified, said Albright also will consult with Colombian authorities on implementing the package and how to obtain additional international support for Colombia's efforts.

"It will make it better if the money's well spent, and it will dramatically strengthen and solidify the Colombian government in its struggle to preserve democracy, to preserve economic growth and preserve order in the country and be a good neighbor," Clinton said.

"Will it solve all the problems? Of course not. Will it make a big difference? It certainly will," the president said at a short question-and-answer session with reporters in Arizona, where he traveled to announce new national monuments designations.

The aid package is part of the budget plan the White House is drafting for fiscal 2001. It dramatically increases America's involvement in Colombian President Andres Pastrana's plan to wean Colombia from its drug-based economy.

Congressional approval is far from assured, although there were some encouraging words Tuesday.

"While I have been critical in the past of the administration's efforts in policies toward Colombia's growing problems, I believe the president is beginning to respond in good faith to our concerns," said House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.

Rep. Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y., chairman of the House International Relations Committee, also welcomed the plan but said he was "concerned that aid alreadly in the pipeline has not been delivered effectively, including Black Hawk helicopters for the Colombian National Police that have languished on the runway for more than two months."

"Until the administration shows a willingness to deliver aid effectively to the Colombian police, their credibility on fighting drugs at the source remains in doubt," Gilman said in a statement.

Capitol Hill Republicans generally favor spending on counternarcotics activities, while the administration prefers spreading the money over a range of programs including treatment of addiction.

The proposed package includes money to help train special counternarcotics battalions and buy 66 U.S. military helicopters for use in drug surveillance and eradication.

"This program is specifically directed against the narcotrafficking, and trying to make sure that the eradication programs go forward," Albright said Tuesday.

The Washington Office on Latin America, a human rights advocacy group, said in a statement the U.S. package "will worsen the grave crisis in Colombia, not contribute to its solution."

"More weapons and more soldiers have not, and cannot, defeat the source of illegal narcotics," the office's Winifred Tate said. "Military assistance as proposed by the Clinton administration ... threatens to directly implicate the U.S. in brutal counterinsurgency campaigns."

Pastrana estimates his plan will cost $7.5 billion overall, of which more than $4 billion would come from Colombia itself. He made an international appeal for aid during a speech at the United Nations in September.

Addressing a news conference Tuesday in Bogota, Pastrana said his government would wage a diplomatic offensive on Capitol Hill in coming weeks in hopes of heading off partisan squabbling.

"We'll make a push before the electoral debate can contaminate whatever assistance the United States might lend to Colombia," Pastrana said.

Pastrana believes no counternarcotics program is viable unless Colombian farmers are given the opportunity to produce alternatives to narcotics plants. Clinton's proposal earmarks money for that purpose, which Pastrana said is "recognition that the fight against drug trafficking cannot be limited only to repressive actions."

U.S. Anti-narcotics aid has previously gone mostly to police interdiction and forced eradication of coca and opium crops.

Clinton phoned Pastrana on Monday night, while Clinton was en route to Arizona. The two briefly discussed strategies for gaining quick congressional approval, Pastrana said.