Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I thank the ranking member of the FS-GG Subcommittee. Mr. Chair, here in Congress we have a big opportunity to fight drug trafficking in this country. Congress originally authorized the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program, HIDTA, in 1988 and renewed it in 1993 and in 1998. The program provides significant financial assistance to State and local law enforcement and facilitates strong cooperation among those agencies and with Federal law enforcement. That cooperation has led to many successes in our efforts to disrupt the market for illegal drugs by interdicting and seizing drugs off of our shores and within our borders. This High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program removes the supply of illicit substances, making it harder for drug trafficking organizations to sell their products. For example, in 2021, the HIDTA program seized over 193 metric tons of cocaine products, 195 metric tons of methamphetamine, 2,900 metric tons of marijuana, 4 metric tons of heroin, and 9 metric tons of fentanyl. We all know the toll that the drug trafficking continues to take on communities across our country. Along our southern border, the Mexican cartels are using any means necessary to import precursor chemicals from China to produce synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. That is to meet a growing demand, a demand that has resulted in over 100,000 deaths of Americans in just 1 year.…”