Mark Souder: “Mr. Speaker, I wanted to clarify one of the matters from the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) because under…”

“Mr. Speaker, I wanted to clarify one of the matters from the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) because under President Bush, in 2 straight years of requests, he has had larger increases in treatment than in supply reduction. And it is good to see that she at least agrees with the President and House leadership on that matter. While we may have other disagreements, we all agree that we need to focus increasing amounts on treatment. I also wanted to clarify that the purpose of this particular bill and HIDTAs was to have these high-intensity drug treatment areas where local and State law enforcement could tap into the Federal law enforcement, so rather than just going after the user on the street, we could actually have local and State law enforcement move up through the system to find the networks, to try to get the major drug dealers. That has not stopped all the street-level arrests, but it has made differences in Los Angeles and in Indiana, where we now see us able to go up the chain and try to get the big people behind those who are abusing the people in our neighborhoods on the street. I also would like to clarify one other thing that has been sent out to some offices that has some false information from one of the conservative groups that has a false allegation about the amount of money being spent in this bill. This bill is a freeze for the next 2 years.”