Political Quotes

“I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, H.R. 4748, the Northern Border Counternarcotics Strategy Act, requires the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, ONDCP, to develop a counternarcotics strategy for the U.S. Canadian border. The House passed this legislation last July. The Senate made several technical and conforming changes to the language and sent it back to the House for final consideration. Significant attention has been paid to drug trafficking along our southern border with Mexico, but the northern border with Canada is also a major transit point for high-potency marijuana, Ecstasy, and other illegal drugs. According to the 2010 National Drug Threat Assessment, Asian drug trafficking organizations produce the drug Ecstasy in Canada and then smuggle it across the northern border into the U.S. America's northern border is remote, heavily wooded and sparsely populated, ideal for smugglers seeking to move their product into the U.S. undetected. In 2006, Congress directed the ONDCP to prepare a counternarcotics strategy for our southwestern border. H.R. 4748 mirrors this strategy, but for our northern border. While we continue to address drug trafficking across our southern border, we must not lose sight of the ease with which our northern border can be exploited by dangerous drug smugglers. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.”