[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 5783-5784]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



SENATE RESOLUTION 291--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING THE 
  REPROGRAMMING OF FUNDS FOR THE DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION FOR 
FISCAL YEAR 2000 IN ORDER TO ASSIST STATE AND LOCAL EFFORTS TO CLEAN UP 
                      METHAMPHETAMINE LABORATORIES

  Mr. HUTCHINSON (for himself, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Hatch, Mr. Craig, Mr. 
Thomas, Mr. Frist, and Mr. Thompson) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Appropriations:

                              S. Res. 291

       Whereas the participation of the Drug Enforcement 
     Administration in the seizures of methamphetamine 
     laboratories has increased drastically since 1994;
       Whereas in 1994, the Drug Enforcement Administration 
     participated in the seizure of only 306 clandestine 
     laboratories, 86 percent of which were methamphetamine 
     laboratories;
       Whereas in 1999, a total of 6,325 methamphetamine and 
     amphetamine laboratories were seized in the United States, 
     and the Drug Enforcement Administration participated in 1,948 
     of those seizures;
       Whereas the Drug Enforcement Administration and State and 
     local law enforcement agencies spend millions of dollars 
     every year cleaning up the pollutants and toxins created and 
     left behind by operators of clandestine methamphetamine and 
     amphetamine laboratories;
       Whereas methamphetamine manufacturing poses serious dangers 
     to human life and the environment;
       Whereas the chemicals and substances used in 
     methamphetamine manufacturing are unstable, volatile, and 
     highly combustible, and the smallest amounts of such 
     chemicals, when mixed improperly, can cause explosions and 
     fire;
       Whereas most clandestine methamphetamine and amphetamine 
     laboratories are situated in residences, motels, trailers, 
     and vans, thereby increasing the danger posed by such 
     explosions and fire;
       Whereas for every pound of methamphetamine that is 
     produced, more than five

[[Page 5784]]

     pounds of toxic waste is produced and left behind;
       Whereas the Drug Enforcement Administration has been 
     assisting State and local law enforcement agencies in 
     cleaning up methamphetamine laboratory sites;
       Whereas State and local agencies lack the financial 
     ability, equipment, and training to cleanup these sites, and 
     therefore rely predominately, if not entirely, on the Drug 
     Enforcement Administration to clean up methamphetamine 
     laboratories;
       Whereas the funds appropriated to the Drug Enforcement 
     Administration for fiscal year 2000 for the cleanup of State 
     and local methamphetamine laboratories were exhausted in 
     March 2000, though the number of methamphetamine laboratories 
     has continued to increase dramatically;
       Whereas the exhaustion of Drug Enforcement Administration 
     funds to assist State and local methamphetamine laboratory 
     cleanup efforts results in a great increase in the risk of 
     harm to State and local law enforcement officers, the public, 
     and the environment; and
       Whereas it is imperative that sufficient funding be 
     provided to the Drug Enforcement Administration for 
     methamphetamine laboratory cleanup, and the Department of 
     Justice has suggested that $10,000,000 be reprogrammed in its 
     budget for this purpose: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that of the 
     funds appropriated or otherwise made available for the 
     Department of Justice for fiscal year 2000, $10,000,000 
     should be reprogrammed for the Drug Enforcement 
     Administration in order to permit the Drug Enforcement 
     Administration to assist State and local efforts to clean up 
     methamphetamine laboratories in fiscal year 2000.

  Mr. HUTCHINSON. Mr. President, I rise today with Senators Grassley, 
Hatch, Craig, Thomas, and Frist to submit a resolution which states 
that it is the Sense of the Senate that $10 million should be 
immediately reprogrammed within the United States Department of 
Justice's (DOJ) budget to allow the Drug Enforcement Administration 
(DEA) to support the cleanup of State and local methamphetamine 
laboratories in Fiscal Year 2000. I do so with a sense of urgency as my 
home State of Arkansas has suffered a terrible and great increase in 
the production, distribution, and use of methamphetamine and is 
desperately in need of federal assistance to bear the financial burden 
inherent in the cleanup of methamphetamine laboratories.
  In March, Governor Huckabee informed me that the DEA had exhausted 
all of the funding available to cleanup State and local methamphetamine 
labs and that the State of Arkansas was paying over $7,500 a day 
despite the much-appreciated efforts undertaken by ENSCO, an El Dorado, 
Arkansas company, to dispose of methamphetamine labs at no cost to the 
State. As the costs associated with the cleanup of a single lab range 
anywhere from $3,000 to $100,000 and average about $5,000 and, with 
over 200 labs seized to date, Arkansas will seize over 800 labs this 
year, it is imperative that funding be provided to the DEA so that it 
may continue to assist in State and local methamphetamine lab cleanups.
  On March 28, 2000, Senators Grassley, Kyl, Craig, Ashcroft, and I 
asked United States Attorney General Reno to identify $10 million in 
funding within the DOJ's budget which could be reprogrammed to provide 
the DEA with the monies necessary for it to administer the cleanup of 
labs seized by State and local law enforcement agencies. I was greatly 
encouraged and highly appreciative when she quickly responded by 
requesting that $10 million in Community Orientated Policing Service 
(COPS) recovery funds be reprogrammed. Despite an April 3, 2000, letter 
from Senators Inhofe, Craig, Thomas, Thompson, Frist, Ashcroft, Hatch, 
Enzi, and I supporting this request, the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) has informed me that a determination has not been made. 
While I appreciate the fact that Director Lew and the OMB continue to 
look for this critical funding, I ask them to put aside politics and 
act quickly to meet this need.
  This Resolution is intended to make it clear to this Administration 
that the United States Congress is serious about solving this problem. 
I implore the President to take a firm stand against methamphetamine 
and establish an effective policy to address this exponentially 
increasing problem. I am firmly convinced that we can solve this 
problem with Congressional support and Presidential leadership. 
Accordingly, I ask my colleagues to take the first step toward a 
solution by joining me in supporting this Resolution.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I am pleased to join my colleague 
Senator Hutchinson in sponsoring this resolution. We have been working 
closely together to find a solution to this growing problem. 
Unfortunately it seems the White House fails to grasp the urgency.
  Mr. President, the DEA, who has for several years reimbursed state 
and local law enforcement agencies for the costs they have incurred in 
cleaning up drug laboratories, has run out of clean-up money. This has 
happened at a time when the number of these labs are growing rapidly, 
and springing up in towns and counties where there has never been a 
problem in the past. Iowa alone has a stack of over $83,000 in 
outstanding lab cleanup bills, and this amount continues to grow. Last 
year, Iowa received over $1.3 million in reimbursement, and at the 
current pace this total is expected to be higher this year.
  Four weeks ago, Mr. President, Mr. Hutchinson, Mr. Kyl, and I wrote 
the appropriations committee to alert them to this problem. Our offices 
were aware of this impending problem, and wanted to insure that no one 
was taken by surprise so there could be a quick resolution. Two weeks 
ago, we were joined by Mr. Craig and Mr. Ashcroft in a letter to the 
Attorney General, encouraging her to work with the Appropriators in 
reprogramming funds to cover this shortfall.
  I am pleased to say that within days we had been informed that a 
reprogramming request had been sent to the White House Budget Office 
for their approval. The request would allow for the use of returned 
COPS funds--money that was not going to be spent otherwise--to be used 
to clean up these environmental hazzards. I want to emphasize that this 
source was identified by the Justice Department, not by Congress. And I 
want to applaud their swift action to solve the problem, and not play 
politics.
  But then, OMB happened. It did nothing. The problem mounts, and OMB 
sits. That is why Senator Hutchinson and I are offering this Sense of 
the Senate. We hope to encourage timely action--not more sitting on 
bureaucratic thumbs. I urge my colleagues to join us.

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