James Traficant: “Mr. Chairman, in order to vote on the Traficant amendment, you must defeat the Reyes amendment. Mr. Reyes admitted when…”

“Mr. Chairman, in order to vote on the Traficant amendment, you must defeat the Reyes amendment. Mr. Reyes admitted when he started he opposes troops on the border. The buzzword in here is reconnaissance. Reconnaissance means to gather information, to scout, but do not engage. That is the difference. I do not mandate anything. No one is doing anything. Someday maybe we will get a President that may want to. The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Edwards) does not want it. The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Reyes) does not want it. Maybe the Pentagon does not want it. The American people not only want it, they need it. How many more overdoses in cities across America? Well, 100 percent of all heroin and cocaine comes from overseas. All the Traficant amendment says, and this disguise of an amendment which parallels it, even though he does not want it, with the reconnaissance language, no engagement is just that. We are not engaged in a war around here. This is a joke. I do not mandate it. But, by God, if there is an emergency and we are to do it, here is what the Traficant language says: They can be deployed. They must be trained. They can never be out unless it is a joint participatory law enforcement envoy with them who would make the arrest. But if they see a narcotic trafficker, they can tackle them. They can engage. How much more are we going to protect? You said we have done a good job in Bosnia. We save lives. We have.…”