Kevin Brady: “today's vote is a difficult one. As a Texan, we share the largest border with Mexico of any State in the country. Mexico…”

“today's vote is a difficult one. As a Texan, we share the largest border with Mexico of any State in the country. Mexico is a valued friend and a neighbor of Texas and of the United States. Clearly America and Mexico have an equal stake in stopping the sale and use of illegal drugs in our countries. My goal is to support legislation of the United States that will effectively and significantly cut off both the supply and the demand for illegal drugs. I recognize the strong commitment of President Zedillo and the stand taken by individual prosecutors, of judges and law enforcement officials in Mexico to challenge the powerful drug cartels. It is a stand which is often life threatening, and more than 20 times in the past year has resulted in torture, in death, and in assassination for our heroic fighters in the international war on drugs. But what is even more tragic is that the leadership of President Zedillo and the sacrifice of these individuals has been undone by an all too pervasive corruption within the Mexican Government, within its police force, and within the judiciary. It has been undone by an estimated $6 billion worth of bribes from the drug cartels, $6 billion which General Barry McCaffrey says has severely impaired Mexico's law enforcement system and, in his words, are ruining cooperative United States-Mexico antidrug operations.”