Mark Pryor

That seems awfully high to me.

Modules 3 and 4 will be for special collections materials.

But you can't say, well, we are going to spend $11 million, and then we will make that money back over a 3-year period?

So it will be at capacity in the next few months?

I look forward to having the opportunity to work with my colleagues on this subcommittee to consider the budget requests.

Okay. And is there a long-term plan on the Power Plant?

I just want to make sure that we are not dropping something that we really need.

But the policy is that if they are former staffers, they shouldn't be there.

Can you talk about the specific activities you plan to carry out with the additional funding?

Well, I will tell you what. I still--my sense is that we are heavy in this area, and we are expensive in this area.

How much money in your proposed appropriation, how much money are you requesting for citation-related projects?

Are they also using other organized crime entities that exist in these areas? Are they tapping into--I will call it 'distribution infrastructure,' for lack of a better word?

That would be very helpful if you could get back to us on that.

How long will it take you to work on the implementation?

That would be helpful, too, because I think the first time I saw some news media reports where my impression after reading the news story was that somehow the drug cartels were operating in the United States in a lot of these cities, and…

Well, that is helpful. Let me say that last month, you were over at the House Homeland Security Committee and testified.

I am much happier now than I was a number of years ago in regards to the information exchange.

I think the biggest obstacle they focused on was funding.

That would be helpful because I think that is an important piece that we need to understand and keep an eye on.

Only through a combined Federal, State, local, and tribal effort, highlighted by robust communication and coordination, can this Nation hope to combat illicit narcotics activities.

This is very helpful to us, not only because this has been in the news media quite a bit, but also just because it is a real national problem.

I think most Senators, it is fair to say, do not mind allocating resources if we feel like there is accountability and we know that the money is being spent properly and is being managed well and being used effectively.

That would be helpful. Like I said, I think what Senator Ensign and I would just ask is that we have a better understanding of the real facts.

Well, you may have anticipated my next question, but as you are preparing the strategy and the implementation, who are you working with to do that?

OK. So it should take you 30 days?