[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 65 (Wednesday, May 20, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H3492]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      HOUSE SHOULD MAKE DECISION ON DRUG TESTING OF DOD EMPLOYEES

  (Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, our Nation this year is going 
to spend $18 billion on the war on drugs. As we speak, there are 
Americans flying counter drug missions in places like Colombia and 
Peru, and they are being shot at, and pretty often they get killed.
  Mr. Speaker, imagine my surprise then when, just yesterday in the 
Committee on Rules, an amendment to require all Department of Defense 
employees to be drug tested was voted down along straight party lines. 
Every single Republican voted against requiring our Department of 
Defense employees to be drug tested. I think that is a decision the 
full House should make.
  Mr. Speaker, I wanted to tell my colleagues that if they had plans 
for this weekend, they should cancel them, because I am going to keep 
us here until we have a vote on that amendment.
  I want to tell the gentleman from New York (Mr. Solomon) and the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrich) that we can have a half-hour of 
debate on that issue and an up or down vote, or we can spend a Memorial 
Day weekend here in Washington.

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