[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 104 (Tuesday, July 22, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7868-S7869]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BIDEN:
  S. 1053. A bill to reauthorize the Office of National Drug Control 
Policy, and for other purposes; to the Committee on the Judiciary.


     reauthorization of the office of national drug control policy

  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, since I released my first annual drug 
strategy in

[[Page S7869]]

1990, I have argued that it was imperative that we needed to act, 
instead of just talk, in order to confront the problem of drug abuse 
and drug related crime. This means focusing quickly on the risks 
confronting our youth, identifying practical steps our communities can 
take to reduce these risks, and committing ourselves to the hard work 
and resources needed to steer young people to productive lives instead 
of wasted lives.
  The administration's 1998 national drug strategy provides significant 
steps toward these goals. Under the leadership of General McCaffrey, 
the administration's 1998 drug strategy calls for a 10-year antidrug 
plan and a 1998 budget request that includes full funding for drug 
control efforts that have proven to work.
  The administration's budget request includes: $8.4 billion for 
domestic drug enforcement; $3.3 billion for drug treatment; $2.2 
billion for drug education and prevention--including $680 million for 
Safe and Drug-Free Schools; and $2.1 billion for interdiction and 
international antidrug efforts--including broad, across-the-board 
increases for law enforcement agencies like the FBI, DEA, INS, and U.S. 
Attorneys.
  In addition to funding these existing programs, the budget request 
establishes a national media campaign of prime-time antidrug television 
advertisements to stop kids from trying drugs in the first place--
funded by $175 million from Federal Government and $175 million from 
private industry.
  These are all positive steps which I urge my colleagues to pass into 
law.
  What is more, these positive steps illustrate just how vital the 
office of the Drug Director truly is. Because, if we did not have an 
office--a single, responsible office charged with overseeing the 
Federal antidrug policy we could not even debate whether 
General McCaffrey's drug strategy makes sense. I believe it does. But, 
there may be others who do not. My key point is that without a Drug 
Director, we would have lost even the chance to have an informed debate 
over a specific proposal.

  I remind my colleagues what we faced on the drug policy front when I 
first began calling for a drug office in 1980: it was pretty simple, 
there was no drug office, there were more than 50 Federal departments, 
agencies, and offices putting together a hodge-podge of antidrug 
efforts with no coherant plan.
  Contrast this to what we have today, General McCaffrey has submitted 
a strategy and a budget--and we can now all debate what a majority of 
us favor and what a majority of us oppose.
  This is the fundamental reason why I am today introducing legislation 
to reauthorize the Office of National Drug Control Policy. I know that 
the administration, led by General McCaffrey, has worked hard to craft 
this legislation, and I believe that it deserves speedy consideration--
and the votes--of my colleagues.
  One of the important refinements offered in this legislation is to 
build in some long-term planning while at the same time adding some 
greater accountability for the drug strategy and all its component 
parts.
  This legislation does so by calling on the Drug Director to develop a 
10-year plan, a 5-year budget coupled with a detailed annual status 
report assessing the progress on the strategy, as well as a detailed, 
program-by-program, annual budget.
  In other words, this legislation would keep the Drug Director's key 
power to develop, define, and submit to Congress a detailed annual drug 
budget. A process which holds unique powers to focus congressional 
debate on the topic of drug policy, and which is the strongest 
institutional power of the Office of National Drug Control Policy 
within the executive branch.
  In addition, this legislation will enhance a function which too often 
is ignored--that function: accountability. Here, the Drug Director has 
called for long- and short-term measureable objectives. In fact, as 
part of General McCaffrey's on-going efforts at the Drug Office, the 
General has already identified more than 54 performance targets and 
another nearly 80 measures of program effectiveness.
  The legislation I am introducing today will help formalize this 
process. Let me also add, that calling on the Drug Director to provide 
a 10-year plan will not prevent any future administration--nor even 
this administration--from changing or refining that plan. It is simply 
to recognize that we are at a stage in our effort against drugs where 
we must focus on implementation and results. And, this is exactly what 
the legislation I offer today is all about.
  I urge my colleagues to support the legislation I offer today.

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