Chuck Grassley: “this playing with the numbers is of a piece with another fact. The administration has consistently avoided providing…”

“this playing with the numbers is of a piece with another fact. The administration has consistently avoided providing Congress and the public with accountable standards of performance on drug control as required by law. Although the law creating the national drug strategy requires annual quantifiable performance measures, this administration has not complied with the law from its first day. Although the present drug czar has repeatedly promised such standards, we have yet to see them. And what they propose to send us is not a report on performance but a methodology for reporting on performance. If that system is ever put into place, we won't seek any accountability based on them until after this administration leaves office. Does this oversight strike you as paying serious attention to drug policy? Not to mention the law? But this is not all. What the administration has also proposed is a formula for downgrading the whole effort to have a national strategy. The administration's proposal for reauthorizing the drug czar's office drops the idea of a national strategy for an annual report. It proposes a 10-year strategy document instead. The effect of this sleight-of-hand is to reduce the drug strategy to a proforma exercise, which, by the way, is another means to dodge accountability. This administration will leave office without ever having provided a serious accounting for its drug policy.”