[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Pages 21584-21585]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 21584]]

                       NOMINATION OF JOHN WALTERS

  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, the other subject I want to talk about today 
is also, I hope, good news in that it involves what I think the Senate 
will be able to take up very soon, and that is the nomination of the 
last of the President's Cabinet officers, who is John Walters to be the 
Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, often known as 
the drug czar.
  John Walters has a great history of service in the area of drug 
control policy. He is a superb nomination of President Bush. His 
nomination has been around now for over 5 months. The President 
nominated him on June 5. We are now 5 months later and he has not yet 
been confirmed by the Senate.
  His hearing was held on October 10, a month after it had originally 
been scheduled on September 11, and this hearing lasted I think over 3 
hours. He was asked a lot of questions by a lot of the members. I think 
anything that had been on anybody's mind was adequately covered. I 
think subsequent to that time he has answered over 60 questions with a 
lot of subparts that have gone into further detail, including questions 
submitted by members not even of the Judiciary Committee chaired by the 
Presiding Officer.
  I am hopeful that at our business meeting this week John Walters will 
be passed out of the Judiciary Committee so that he can be considered 
by the full Senate and we can have him confirmed and he can be in place 
before Thanksgiving. It seems to be not too much to ask of the Senate 
to confirm Cabinet officers before Thanksgiving of the year in which 
they are nominated, particularly when their nominations have been 
pending for so long.
  Let me say a couple words about John Walters. And I have to say I am 
biased because I know this fine man.
  I recently met his family. My daughter and his wife are friends. I 
know the Walters to be a very fine family. His service to this country 
has exemplified the values I know he cherishes. They are values that 
manifest themselves in trying to tell young people in this country why 
the path of drugs is the wrong path for them, trying to help people who 
have gotten involved in drugs get back on the right track through 
treatment and rehabilitation, trying to develop a national strategy 
that helps us keep drugs out of the country, that interdicts them and 
tries to deal with them in the places of their origin and tracks down 
the people who perpetrate the trade in drugs and traffic in them, 
selling them to young people, to provide punishment for those drug 
traffickers.
  All of the aspects of the war on drugs--and that is an unfortunate 
term--require focus and attention by the Office of Drug Control Policy. 
When John Walters served in that office under President George Bush--
the first President George Bush--later acting deputy director for 4 
years in the Bush administration of the Office of Drug Policy, he 
became intimately familiar with all aspects of our war on drugs.
  He participated significantly in the issues relating to drug 
treatment. I know one of the questions was whether he was as strongly 
committed to drug treatment as he was to some of the other aspects of 
drug control policy.
  I note that there are certain parts of drug policy that are the 
responsibility of the U.S. Government because as a nation we deal with 
drug interdiction and as a foreign policy matter we deal with 
eradication of drugs in foreign lands and their interdiction before 
they come into the United States. That is a Federal responsibility; it 
is not performed by, for example, the city of Phoenix.
  But when we get to drug education, prevention, treatment, and 
rehabilitation, those are shared responsibilities starting with our 
local communities that have a great deal to say about how those 
programs get carried out in each individual community, supported by the 
States and ultimately also by the U.S. Government.
  When one examines the role of the Federal Government and the people 
who have worked on this issue in Washington, it is important to 
separate those functions which are purely and strictly of the Federal 
Government as opposed to those jobs which are shared by other 
jurisdictions. Our focus needs to be primarily on the former. We share 
a responsibility with all of the other States and local communities 
with respect to the latter. That doesn't mean we are any less committed 
to antidrug education, treatment, and rehabilitation.
  I think there was a sense that that was perhaps John Walters' 
philosophy. Absolutely nothing could be further from the truth. As a 
matter of fact, he was one of the architects of the new drug strategy 
and the Federal spending plan that targeted drug treatment and 
treatment research when he was in the Bush administration. He was 
certainly behind the move to expand the budget and programs for drug 
prevention.
  I think all of that became clarified during the hearing. There was a 
great deal of support in the Judiciary hearing for the President's 
commitment of additional resources. I believe the number is $1.6 
billion for these programs.
  I specifically asked him whether or not he would be a strong advocate 
for administering this program as the President had outlined it. He 
said absolutely he would. I think there is no doubt about the fact that 
he is committed to treatment and prevention and will strongly support 
the President's plan in that regard.
  His work, by the way, first began in the mid-1980s when he worked on 
drug policy matters at the U.S. Department of Education and was 
actually responsible in that position for a drug prevention guide. Over 
1 million copies were distributed. That is when I first became aware of 
his work. But of course his later work was in the Office of Drug 
Control Policy itself, 4 years total serving as chief of staff from 
1989 through 1991, and then deputy director for supply reduction from 
1991 through 1992.
  I hope somebody with the long experience he has had in this area can 
quickly be confirmed by the Senate to assist the President in this war 
on drugs and to fill out the last Cabinet position in the Bush 
administration.
  There is one other reason I come to the floor today: To make the 
point that has to do with our war on terrorism.
  As we know--and as we can discuss in a lot more detail than we are 
permitted to do here in public--terrorists in several places in the 
world are significantly supported financially through the drug trade. 
It is therefore important for us, while we are fighting this war on 
terrorism, to not forget that a key component of terrorism financing in 
many places in the world is the drug trade. That is the responsibility 
of the Office of Drug Control Policy, primarily coordinating the 
different agencies of the U.S. Government in fighting the war on 
terrorism. It is yet another reason we need a leader at the top of that 
organization. It is true we have a lot of good people fighting that 
battle around the world today, but the direction that can come only 
from the director--a Cabinet officer of the President--I think is 
critical.
  Therefore, if we are going to do everything we can in fighting the 
war on terrorism, which all of us like to say around here, one of the 
things we must do is to quickly confirm John Walters as the drug czar.
  One of the key components of fighting drugs is also fighting the war 
on terror. That is why I conclude by urging my colleagues on the 
Judiciary Committee to confirm John Walters when we vote on him, 
presumably this week, and to quickly get his nomination before the 
Senate so that all 100 Senators can have a vote on the confirmation of 
John Walters as drug czar. I would love to have that vote before the 
end of this week. I am sure the President would as well. But we have to 
do it within the next few days, in any event. If there is any concern 
or objection to John Walters, I hope Members will bring those concerns 
to me so I can do whatever I can to ensure that he can satisfy those 
concerns.

[[Page 21585]]

  The bottom line is that we need this position filled since he is the 
right man for the job. He has the President's confidence, and it is 
about time we confirmed him as drug czar. I hope my colleagues will act 
on that quickly.
  Those are two bits of good news: The victory of the Arizona 
Diamondbacks and my hope that we will quickly confirm John Walters and 
conclude the confirmation process of the President's Cabinet.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the 
quorum call be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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