Mark Souder: “I thank my colleagues in the entire House today for adopting H. Res. 485, supporting the goals of Red Ribbon Week. Red…”

“I thank my colleagues in the entire House today for adopting H. Res. 485, supporting the goals of Red Ribbon Week. Red Ribbon Week, which is this week, helps bring together local communities for anti-drug abuse education and other prevention efforts. I would like to thank all the members who cosponsored this resolution, and Chairman Joe Barton of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and Chairman Nathan Deal of the Health Subcommittee for their assistance in bringing it before the whole House. Regrettably, as this resolution was added to the schedule only last night, I was in my Congressional district and was unable to be on the House floor today to express my support for my own bill. However, I am very pleased that we were able to pass Red Ribbon Week. Twenty years ago, in March 1985, Special Agent Enrique Camarena of the Drug Enforcement Agency, DEA, was kidnapped, tortured and murdered by drug dealers in Mexico. Red Ribbon Week began as a local commemorative effort Agent Camarena's hometown of Calexico, California. Congressman Duncan Hunter and Camarena's high school friend, Henry Lozano, created the Camarena Club to preserve the agent's legacy. The National Family Partnership later formalized Red Ribbon Week as a national campaign, an 8-day event proclaimed by the U.S. Congress and chaired by then President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan.…”