Mark Souder: “tonight I would like to talk briefly about some concerns I have in the foreign operations appropriations bill, about…”

“tonight I would like to talk briefly about some concerns I have in the foreign operations appropriations bill, about some rumors that are circulating. The bill has passed the House and it has passed the Senate. As we go to conference, it is important that we address some of these concerns and we do not retreat on our anti-narcotics efforts. I know Americans are deeply concerned about the anti-terrorism as I am, but in the process of focusing on the terrorism question, we should not retreat from our war on drugs. As my friend and the Democratic ranking member of the Committee on Government Reform, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings), has said, we are in a chemical war in the United States. They have distributed illegal narcotics throughout our country. We are watching the Taliban to see if their heroin makes it over from Europe. They dominate the Europe and Asia markets, but clearly we have thousands of Americans dying of illegal drugs, which is a consistent problem. I want to talk first about an understanding that the Senate has been pushing to drop a drug certification. First, I do not think it should be dropped.”