[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 64 (Thursday, May 10, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S4818]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     NOMINATION OF JOHN P. WALTERS

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I am pleased to announce my strong support 
for President Bush's selection of John P. Walters as the next Director 
of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
  John will bring two decades of drug policy experience in the non-
profit sector and in government to his mission as the nation's drug 
czar. His passionate commitment to improving the quality of our society 
by decreasing drug use through effective drug education, treatment, and 
interdiction programs has already touched the lives of many Americans. 
I trust that the Bush Administration will give him the resources and 
authority his position requires as a sign of its determination to cut 
drug use in America and provide the moral leadership essential to this 
task.
  Many of John's advocates will note his impressive record of public 
service in the fields of drug interdiction, treatment, and education. 
John distinguished himself during the first Bush Administration as 
Deputy Director for Supply Reduction, Chief of Staff and National 
Security Director, and Acting Director of the Office of National Drug 
Control Policy. During the Administration of President Reagan, John 
served as Chief of Staff and Counselor to the Secretary of Education, 
as well as Assistant to the Secretary, the Secretary's Representative 
to the National Drug Policy Board, and the Secretary's Representative 
to the Domestic Policy Council's Health Policy Working Group.
  But John's work outside of government is equally admirable. John is 
currently serving as President of the Philanthropy Roundtable, a 
national association of charitable donors who are doing great work in 
our communities. He was previously President of the New Citizenship 
Project, an organization created to promote greater civic participation 
in our national life. John also served on the Council on Crime in 
America, a bipartisan commission on violent crime co-chaired by former 
Drug Czar Bill Bennett and former Attorney General Griffin Bell.
  In 1988, John created the Madison Center, a non-profit organization 
dedicated to early childhood education and drug abuse prevention. From 
1982 to 1985, he served as Acting Assistant Director and Program 
Officer in the Division of Education Programs at the National Endowment 
of the Humanities.
  I am confident John will bring strong leadership to our efforts to 
cut drug use. Not so long ago, Nancy Reagan taught our young people to 
``Just Say No'' to drugs. That was just one demonstration of committed 
leadership at the national level. What Nancy Reagan started was 
followed up by engaged national leadership, including Drug Czar Bill 
Bennett, who used the bully pulpit to change attitudes, and in the 
process helped rescue much of a generation. Drug use declined by more 
than a third in the wake of the Reagan-Bush effort, and teen drug use, 
the pipeline to future addiction, dropped even faster.

  In fact, drug use in America has declined by 45 percent since 1985. 
Drug prevention, education, and interdiction can make a tangible 
difference in the supply and use of drugs in this country. Moral 
leadership is critical. Unfortunately, the overall decline in drug use 
obscures a rise in drug consumption of 15 percent during the last seven 
years and a near doubling of teen drug use over the past 8 years.
  John Walters' emphasis on targeting both drug supply and demand 
through effective drug treatment programs, and his laudable call for 
cultural leadership in fending off illegal narcotics' assault on our 
blessed youth, will help reverse years of drift in our counter-drug 
policies. I hope he can also play a useful role in refining our drug 
interdiction strategy in the Andean region and reforming a drug 
certification law that does more to hinder than help our drug reduction 
efforts overseas. I look forward to John's leadership on these issues, 
backed by the personal support of the President, and commend his speedy 
confirmation to my colleagues.

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