[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 23 (Tuesday, February 28, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H421]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        RETAIN BYRNE-JAG GRANTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Kennedy) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KENNEDY of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, on February 16, while police 
officers representing law enforcement organizations with over 100,000 
members from every congressional district in the country were on 
Capitol Hill lobbying to save Byrne-JAG formula grants, police officers 
just outside the town of Monticello in my district in Minnesota were 
proving why the shortsighted elimination of the Byrne-JAG program must 
be rejected.
  During a mid-afternoon traffic stop involving several individuals 
from Washington State in a vehicle likely stolen in California, a 
Minnesota State trooper noticed the smell of meth coming from a car.
  After a brief search of the car with a trained drug dog, an elaborate 
trunk-latch device wired to the car's air conditioning knob was 
discovered and eight sealed packages and one large ziploc bag of meth 
were located in the car's passenger-side air bag compartment. In all, 
more than 11.5 pounds of meth worth over $1 million was taken off our 
streets, along with several traffickers who profit from dealing this 
poison.
  Mr. Speaker, 11.5 pounds of meth is the equivalent of over 45,000 
hits. One hit of meth is enough to form an addiction more difficult to 
break than even heroin.
  Mr. Speaker, I commend the police officers who made this bust and 
kept this staggering amount of meth out of the community in my district 
and likely those of many of my colleagues. However, Mr. Speaker, 
imagine how much meth they were not able to catch because of the 
devastating cuts to the Byrne-JAG program.
  For the second year in a row, the administration has singled out the 
Byrne-JAG program for elimination, despite the fact that local police 
and the communities they protect praise the valuable source of crime-
fighting grant money it provides.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join Representative Lee Terry 
and me in our letter to the Budget Committee urging in the strongest 
terms that the President's proposal to eliminate Byrne-JAG grants not 
be followed and that this critical program to protect our communities 
from drugs and violent crime be funded at no less than $900 million in 
the fiscal year 2007 budget cycle.

                              {time}  2000

  Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to my colleague who has 
been a leader on this issue, Representative Davis of Tennessee.
  Mr. DAVIS of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
yielding me the time.
  Congressman Kennedy has been a real leader and a fighter for the 
Brynes-JAG funding and methamphetamine issues in general. I applaud his 
efforts and his continued concern about our families and our Nation and 
certainly the States that we represent.
  Mr. Speaker, methamphetamine abuse continues to be a growing plague 
on America's families, communities and our economy. Abuse of this drug 
has swept across our Nation like a terrible storm that leaves in its 
wake broken families, endangered children, overcrowded jails, degraded 
environment and communities begging for help.
  I cannot overstate the problems this drug creates. As Attorney 
General Alberto Gonzalez said in July of 2005, in terms of damage to 
our children and to our society, methamphetamine is now the most 
dangerous drug in America. That is why, Mr. Speaker, I was terribly 
disappointed to see that the President's budget for fiscal year 2007 
completely cut funding for the Byrnes Justice Assistance Grants.
  This program has been cited by State and local governments across the 
country as critical in their efforts to combat meth. In essence, it 
represents the combined effort among Federal, State and local 
governments to create safer communities. In my State the funding has 
helped fund the State's drug task force and helped fund local community 
crime prevention projects.
  State officials back home have informed me that eliminating this 
program could reduce criminal justice funding to Tennessee by a total 
of $11 million and eliminate 170 much needed individual projects across 
our State.
  That is why I have joined with Representative Kennedy and many of our 
other colleagues in urging the House Budget Committee to include at 
least $900 million for the Edward Byrnes Memorial Justice Assistance 
Grant program in the budget resolution for fiscal year 2007, which is 
still $200 million less than the program's authorized level of $1.1 
billion.
  We must fight this elicit drug head on. Just as we need to give our 
soldiers serving in Afghanistan and Iraq the tools and resources needed 
for success, so too must we give our local law enforcement officials 
the tools they need to fight the war on drugs.
  This program is a tool our local law enforcement officers desperately 
need. Congress must restore the funding. The risk in not doing so is 
simply too scary and the threat to our children's future is too great.
  I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.

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