John Katko: “Let me start by thanking Judiciary Committee Chairman Goodlatte for his efforts and his committee's efforts in…”

“Let me start by thanking Judiciary Committee Chairman Goodlatte for his efforts and his committee's efforts in shepherding this bill through the committee, where it received unanimous support. I also want to thank my colleague across the aisle, Representative Rice. We have partnered together on many bills that have passed the House to help keep our country safe and to keep it free from drug trafficking. Both of us having a background as prosecutors on a Federal level will help us going forward. This legislation makes important changes that strengthen the Kingpin Act and enhance the protection of classified information. The Kingpin Act has played an important role in our Nation's efforts to fight drug trafficking for nearly two decades. In the last two decades, I was heavily involved with drug trafficking as a Federal organized crime prosecutor, so I understand the importance of the statute on a firsthand basis. The act established a process to sanction individuals involved in international narcotics trafficking. More than 1,800 individuals, all non-U.S. persons, have been designated as drug kingpins by the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control under the Kingpin Act. This designation precludes these traffickers from using the U.S. financial system and, in so doing, places a major obstacle in front of their efforts to move and use their ill-gotten gains. Many of the individuals placed on the kingpin list are put there on the basis of classified information.…”