Mark Souder: “I also want to talk briefly about the offset from ONDCP, the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the national ad…”

“I also want to talk briefly about the offset from ONDCP, the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the national ad campaign. This was funded under former President Clinton at a level of $180 million back in the 1990s. What we have seen is it is reduced all the way down to $120 million in this bill, which means that it is barely able to sustain itself, given that advertising costs have gone up. There is an amendment later in this bill that the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Larson) and I are doing in a bipartisan way to try to increase the dollars so we can afford and fund anti-meth campaigns around this country, as we are also doing under ONDCP in the High Intensity Drug Trafficking area. This amendment, though it is not a large amount, would potentially be an absolutely crippling blow to this particular program and certainly would end any chance for us to do any meth advertising in this budget. Thus, I ask people who support our efforts to combat methamphetamine to vote against this amendment.”