Pete Sessions: “this is an important bill, legislation that I hope that this body can reach an accord on. The Coverdell-Craig amendment…”

“this is an important bill, legislation that I hope that this body can reach an accord on. The Coverdell-Craig amendment on drugs is not a way to undermine the bill but a way to improve the bill. Drug use among young people is the No. 1 concern of parents, according to authoritative polling data. We have a bill that has gone from $360 billion to, some say, $750 billion in income to the U.S. Treasury. It would be a tragedy were we not to take this opportunity to do something about the drug abuse problem that continues to increase at extraordinary rates, particularly among young people in America today. I serve as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Juvenile Crime. I have had the occasion to deal with the drug abuse problem in that capacity. I also had the occasion, for 15 years, to be a Federal prosecutor and 12 years as U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Alabama. During that time, I was actively involved in the Mobile Bay Area Partnership For Youth, the primary drug-fighting organization which was later added to the Coalition for a Drug-Free Mobile. We worked on a monthly basis with the leadership in our community to do what we could do, as citizens within that community, to reduce drug abuse in our schools and among young people. I learned some things during that process. I learned that what you do makes a difference. I was proud to have served under the Reagan-Bush administration as a Federal prosecutor.”