H.R. 8595 is better known as the National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act of 2027. It passed in the House on a more or less party line basis a couple of weeks ago. Representative Thomas Massie was the sole Republican dissenter.
Massie is now drawing attention to some curious language that appeared in the House Appropriations Committee report accompanying the legislation, and rightly so. It reads as follows:
The Committee notes that the Spanish-administered cities of Ceuta and Melilla are located in Moroccan territory and remain the subject of Morocco’s longstanding claim.
Huh?
Referring to Ceuta and Melilla as “Spanish-administered” is as bizarre (and, in its implications, as disturbing) as referring to, say, Tucson or Albuquerque as “American-administered.” Ceuta and Melilla are Spanish cities. Period. They are not located on “Moroccan territory” but on Spanish territory and have been for centuries.
More:
The Committee supports efforts by the Secretary of State to encourage diplomatic engagement between Morocco and Spain on the future status of Ceuta and Melilla.
What?
There is no need “to encourage diplomatic engagement” between Spain and Morocco on the “future status” of these two cities. Given that Morocco will never relinquish its claim, that the inhabitants of the two cities are opposed to any transfer, and that any transfer could (one day) conceivably increase a threat to free passage through the Strait of Gibraltar, there is nothing to talk about. For Spain to “engage” with Morocco over the status of the two Spanish cities would only encourage Morocco. If U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has made any efforts to “encourage engagement,” then it was a blunder.
The wording of the committee’s report has no legal status, but it was, at the very least, careless. Making matters worse, it didn’t pass unnoticed in either Spain or Morocco.