Elijah Cummings: “I want to thank Mr. Pallone for yielding, and for his great work on this legislation. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of…”

“I want to thank Mr. Pallone for yielding, and for his great work on this legislation. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of provisions in this package reauthorizing and reforming the Office of National Drug Control Policy to improve coordination of our national response to the drug crisis. At my request, the bill creates a demand reduction coordinator position, parallel to the existing interdiction coordinator, to strengthen demand reduction initiatives, including efforts to expand treatment. Among other critical reforms, this legislation also requires ONDCP to report whether drug control program agency budgets are adequate to achieve the goals of the National Drug Control Strategy. It requires the compilation of essential data on overdoses, deaths, and interdiction in a data dashboard, so the American people have a clear, accessible picture of the effectiveness of efforts to combat the drug crisis. I thank Chairman Gowdy, Chairman Meadows, and Vice Ranking Member Connolly for working with me to develop legislation that will reform ONDCP. I thank Chairman Grassley, Ranking Member Feinstein, and Senator Cornyn for their leadership. Let me also give special thanks to the committee staff and, I must say, to the majority and the minority staff. They did a phenomenal job working hard in conference and throughout this effort. Without their extraordinary efforts, this legislation would not be in this package today. Mr. Speaker, I close with a simple warning.…”