Wayne Gilchrest: “I, too, share the reservations of the gentleman from Missouri about interrupting the normal committee process with a…”

“I, too, share the reservations of the gentleman from Missouri about interrupting the normal committee process with a major new initiative. However, the normal committee process, in my judgment, was a part of this task force from start to finish. As chairman of the Subcommittee on The Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, over the last almost 2 years, we have held several subcommittee hearings on the Coast Guard's ability to work with other agencies with the Defense Department, even with other countries to figure out a plan to interdict drugs coming into the Caribbean area, the Eastern Pacific, and the United States. I think what we have done is create a plan that needs to move forward. We can interdict drugs on the high seas. At this point, I am convinced, this might sound astounding, but I am convinced that we as a country by about the year 2005 or 2006 can interdict 80 percent of the illegal drugs coming into this country across the high seas. It is possible to do that. We have the technology, the will, the initiative, and this is the first step in that direction. So I urge my colleagues to vote ``aye'' on this rule.”