Political Quotes

“first I thank my colleague and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley. Many years ago I went to Iowa with Senator Grassley to set up an anti-drug coalition. We had done one in Ohio. I was the chair of that, and Chuck Grassley asked if I would come. This was probably 20 years ago that Senator Grassley--and I was in the House. We had a great visit. We had a couple of townhall meetings. Chuck Grassley is a guy who understands the issue, cares about it, and has devoted a lot of time and resources to it in Iowa. The people of Iowa know he is sincere about it because he has been on the ground setting up these coalitions and dealing with this issue. Frankly, it is a little disappointing--probably to him and to me--to see that some 20 years later we are still facing this issue now and even different issues. He mentioned methamphetamines. He mentioned, of course, the heroin and opiate addiction problems with prescription drugs. Twenty years ago it was more marijuana and cocaine, but I think the lesson we have all learned is these drugs will come and go in terms of their severity and their impact on our communities and our families, but it is always going to be there, and we need to keep up the fight. Right now we have an urgent problem. That urgent problem was outlined by Senator Grassley, but it is this growing use of opiates that leads to a horrible addiction. It has a grip on so many of our constituents, so many of our loved ones.…”