Hon. Michael G. Oxley: “I served 10 years on the Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control, and having dealt with this issue for a number…”

“I served 10 years on the Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control, and having dealt with this issue for a number of years, I truly come to the floor today with mixed emotions. One of the things I learned, I think, long ago when I came to this body was to listen to the folks who are closest to the problem. When I listen to my colleagues from Texas, from Arizona, from southern California, and they explain to me the difficulties of the decertification process, and what it is going to mean to our relations with our neighbors to the South, I think it behooves us to listen to those arguments. This is not a partisan issue. While I agree with all of the failed antidrug policy indictments in this resolution with this administration, that is really beside the point. The point is how do we solve the problem of drugs coming in through our borders from Mexico. I am not certain that the approach we take today, whether it is the Hastert approach or the approach from the committee, really gets that job done.”