Orrin Hatch: “today I am going to offer an amendment to increase the drug czar's office. I think it is critical to this country that…”

“today I am going to offer an amendment to increase the drug czar's office. I think it is critical to this country that we start taking the matter of drug control more seriously than we have over the last number of years. So, I rise to offer an amendment to provide an adequate level of funding for the Office of National Drug Control Policy, better known as the drug czar's office. This amendment increases ONDCP's budget by a modest $3.9 million to a total of $11.4 million for fiscal year 1996. That is still well below ONDCP's funding level during President Bush's administration but higher than the administration has requested. In fiscal year 1992, when George Bush was President, ONDCP was getting $18.1 million for operating expenses. We all know why this amendment is necessary. By many accounts, President Clinton has downgraded the war on drugs. One of his first acts upon taking office was to cut the drug czar's staff from 146 down to 25. The President said he was fulfilling a campaign pledge to cut staff, but several of us on both sides of the aisle warned that the new drug czar would not be effective without the tools to do his job. We were right. Indeed, the President's own drug czar conceded in 1993 that drugs were no longer "at the top of the agenda." That was in the Washington Post on July 8, 1993. For 3 years, President Clinton gave us an imbalanced strategy focusing primarily on the treatment of hardcore users.…”