James Traficant: “I support the bill and the tremendous effort of the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert) and the process that was…”

“I support the bill and the tremendous effort of the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert) and the process that was developed to eliminate drugs in the Western Hemisphere. I want to talk about the Reyes amendment. I have great respect for the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Reyes). I support his bill to amplify and increase Customs. I support the bill of the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter) to increase border patrol. Increased border patrol, increased Customs is not going to eliminate drugs from the Western Hemisphere. Let us talk about what the Traficant amendment would do. The Traficant amendment would allow the Secretary of Defense, after consultation with the White House and the administration and congressional leaders, to do everything in their power to mitigate and eliminate narcotics from our country. The Reyes amendment would limit the White House and the Secretary of Defense if they chose to take a specific course and allow for troops on our border. The tragedy of Esequiel Hernandez cannot be overlooked. FBI agents have been killed in wrongful death shootings. American soldiers have been shot by their own company men. Do we throw out the army? Do we defund the FBI?”