Political Quotes

“the gentleman from Ohio spoke about the war on drugs, and nobody can deny that that is happening in America today. But the front line of the war on drugs is just as much in Youngstown, Ohio, as it is in Nogales, Arizona; and I do not think any of us believe that the 82nd Airborne should be patrolling the streets of Youngstown, Ohio. The fact is, we are already using military forces in a substantial way along the border. We have JTF-6 located in El Paso that coordinates all of the intelligence work that we are doing on the war on drugs. We have the Air Force operating the aerostats that look for the planes that would be crossing the border. We have Reserve engineering companies that are on active duty along the border building roads and fences every single day. We have the National Guard that is helping to load and unload trucks so they can be inspected along the border. Mr. Chairman, I serve on two of the appropriations subcommittees that between them fund almost 100 percent of Federal law enforcement. We are struggling in those subcommittees to make sure that we have adequate resources to provide the Customs agents, the Border Patrol, the INF inspectors, the DEA people that we need. But we need specialized people trained to do the work. We do not need paratroopers, we do not need Abraham tanks, we do not need B-2 bombers. We need to have the kind of people that can do the work of interdicting drugs and protecting our borders.”