John Mica: “Well, I want to, first of all, Mr. Speaker, thank Mr. Hastert for his leadership. When this trip was originally planned…”

“Well, I want to, first of all, Mr. Speaker, thank Mr. Hastert for his leadership. When this trip was originally planned, about 11 people indicated they were going to go; and as it turned out, Mr. Hastert, Mr. Souder, and Mr. Zeliff, and myself were the only Members that went. I want the Speaker and my colleagues to know that, and listen to this, despite cables indicating 22 deaths from terrorist bombings on April 10, that is just before we left, in Columbia, and the discovery of dynamite at the Colombia Supreme Court, also on April 10, codel members stood by their commitment, and those who stood by their commitment are on the floor. This trip is a culmination of some of the efforts that I and a few others, Charlie Rangel, Bill Richardson, on the other side of the aisle, have attempted to get the attention of this administration and this Congress on this issue. In the last Congress I had over 100 Members sign a letter to the former Democratic chairman of the Government Operations Committee asking for an oversight hearing on our national drug policy, and two farcical abbreviated hearing were held. Nothing was really held, until Mr. Zeliff took over this position. Mr. Clinger and Mr. Hastert have also shown their leadership.”