Sam Gejdenson: “let me say that what we are faced with here is a diversion from Hershey. We have great discussions about bipartisanship…”

“let me say that what we are faced with here is a diversion from Hershey. We have great discussions about bipartisanship and rather than dealing with the responsibilities that are before us, we take up the campaign rhetoric over the debate on how to proceed internally in this country on the issue of fighting drugs. A legitimate issue, we ought to take it up. You are in the majority. Bring a bill to the floor that provides a new drug policy. But the challenge before the Congress, as it came from the Committee on International Relations, is a challenge that has to deal with the issue of whether or not we feel that our Mexican neighbor has met the requirements in laws established in this Congress to deal with fighting of drugs and fighting the shipment of drugs and the operations in the drug industry. When we look at the bottom of page 3, page 4 and page 5, we are not dealing with Mexican certification. We are taking the Dole campaign language or some variation on it. We are going after the Clinton administration. You may want to go after the Clinton administration and maybe you ought to be after the Clinton administration on drug policy. Maybe you have differences. That is not what we ought to be doing here today. What we ought to do here today is fulfill our responsibilities. There are some people here that say the Mexicans have tried, they maybe have not made it, but it would be very damaging to reject the Mexicans altogether.…”