Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. International drug traffickers are profiting off the misery of American citizens, including our children. In recent years, our Nation has experienced an epidemic of opioid abuse. A significant part of that epidemic involves the trafficking of illicit heroin across our borders and into our communities and homes. Every Member in this Chamber today has a heartbreaking story about a constituent or a constituent's child who has been lost to this scourge. The irony, Mr. Speaker, is that international drug traffickers know our drug trafficking laws as well as, if not better than, most Americans do. They know that if they simply employ a middleman to take the drugs from them and transport them into the U.S., it makes it much harder, if not impossible, for U.S. law enforcement to prosecute them under those drug trafficking laws. Why is it more difficult, you might ask. Because under current law the government must prove that a trafficker knew the drugs were headed for the United States. Drug trafficking organizations in Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and other Central and South American source nations sell their illicit products to Mexican traffickers who, in turn, traffic the drugs into the United States.…”