[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 151 (Wednesday, October 21, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S12960]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           DRUG INTERDICTION

  Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I will now take a moment to discuss one of 
the most important accomplishments of this Congress. It is an 
accomplishment that occurred about 4\1/2\ hours ago. Back in July, I, 
along with a bipartisan, bicameral core group of legislators, came to 
the floor and introduced a bill that called for a major new effort to 
restore a balance to our drug interdiction and eradication efforts. 
Today, just this morning, after a few short months, this important 
effort has been included in the omnibus bill that we passed. It is 
included in the bill that is being sent to the President and that, with 
his signature, will then become law.
  This bill, this effort, is about restoring balance to America's 
antidrug efforts. Restoring balance to America's antidrug effort is a 
major accomplishment of this Congress. It is vitally important to the 
future of America's children. Our drug interdiction efforts, keeping 
drugs out of this country, are lagging way behind where they ought to 
be. Drugs are far too plentiful, far too easy to find, far too cheap, 
far too easy to obtain. It is so easy. The amount of drugs in our 
country is at an unprecedented high level.
  Back in the 1980s and 1990s we used to have a balanced antidrug 
strategy. We provided the right balance of resources to fight drugs. 
What do I mean by balance? I think we have to take a multifaceted 
approach to the drug problem. We have to have treatment for those who 
need that and who are willing to go into treatment. We have to have 
education and other methods to stop people from starting drugs. We have 
to have domestic law enforcement, most of which is handled at the local 
level but, of course, it also includes the DEA and the FBI. And, we 
also have to have international drug interdiction, stopping drugs from 
leaving the source countries--Peru, Bolivia and Colombia--stopping them 
on the high seas, stopping them at the border. We have to have all four 
components. What this bill does is restores that balance, or a better 
way of saying it, frankly, a more accurate way of saying it, is it 
begins to restore this balance.
  This effort is not just about providing resources. It is 
demonstrating, rather, the will to stop drugs before they reach our 
borders. This is not just about dollars. It is not just about dollars 
and cents. It is also about leadership. It is the Federal 
Government's--our--responsibility, and the Federal Government's alone 
to stop drugs at the source or in transit to our borders. In the other 
areas, where we talk about treatment, or domestic law enforcement, 
prevention, education, all of these are shared responsibilities of the 
local communities and the State and the Federal Government and the 
private sector and the nonprofit groups. But when we talk about drug 
interdiction, that is the one thing that nobody else can do but the 
Federal Government. That is our responsibility and the buck does, in 
fact, stop here.
  It is the Federal Government's responsibility, and the Federal 
Government's alone, to stop drugs at the source or in transit to our 
borders. I have seen it firsthand. I have been to the Caribbean, I have 
been to the Bahamas, I have been off the coast of Haiti and off the 
coast of the Dominican Republic. I have been along the border in El 
Paso. I have been into New Mexico. I have talked directly to the men 
and women of this great country who are fighting this war. We have 
great people who are doing that. I have seen firsthand that what we are 
currently providing to uphold this responsibility is simply not enough. 
It is, frankly, inadequate. Just as we need military readiness to 
defend America against war, we need drug interdiction readiness to 
defend America against drugs.
  We do know how to do it. We do know how to do it. We have great 
people. We got our ideas for this legislation from the experts, from 
men and women of key agencies such as the Coast Guard, Customs, DEA. 
That is where the ideas for this legislation that will now become law 
came from. Their resources have been dramatically reduced, tragically, 
in recent years. This bill begins--and I say begins--to fix this 
problem by providing the very resources they need. We could not be here 
today without their assistance.
  This was a bipartisan effort. We worked with both sides of the aisle. 
We had Gen. Barry McCaffrey's involvement and his help and cooperation 
and assistance. Today we certainly can be proud of this victory, but 
today is just the first step. We have a long way to go to restore this 
balance. We will be back next year to continue this war. But make no 
mistake about it, this bill is a major step towards keeping drugs out 
of our country. This bill will mean more planes in the air, more ships 
at sea, less drugs on the streets of America. We are back in the 
business of putting the drug lords out of business.
  I thank my good friend, Bill McCollum, Congressman McCollum from 
Florida, for leading this effort in the House of Representatives. I 
thank Denny Hastert, chairman of the Speaker's drug task force, who did 
a remarkable job in securing close to $700 million to get this 
initiative started. I also thank our bipartisan core group on drug 
interdiction--Senators Paul Coverdell, Bob Graham, Al D'Amato, Dianne 
Feinstein, Lauch Faircloth, and of course Porter Goss, Chuck Grassley 
and Kit Bond.
  The Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, and Majority Leader Trent 
Lott, both were absolutely instrumental in getting this included in the 
budget package that we just passed. But for them it simply would not 
have happened, and we know that.
  The two chairmen of the Appropriations Committees, Senator Ted 
Stevens and Congressman Bob Livingston, deserve our thanks for taking 
the lead to include our initiative in their omnibus bill.
  This legislation will make a huge difference in our efforts to win 
back America's future from the drug lords. It is just the beginning to 
restore the balance but it is a major, significant beginning. It is a 
major victory. I thank my colleagues who worked so very hard on this.

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