Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to S. 32, the Transnational Drug Trafficking Act of 2015. While I support the underlying goal of combating drug trafficking, existing federal criminal laws already prohibit and punish this conduct. This bill however weakens existing mens rea standards, and therefore could lead to the application of mandatory minimums to action which the defendant did not know was illegal. This bill therefore is a perfect example of four of the most common problems in crime policy. First, it is a textbook example of overcriminalization, namely the careless creation and addition of federal crimes without reviewing if that conduct is already sufficiently prohibited and can be prosecuted under existing federal criminal laws. Existing federal laws prohibit importation and exportation of controlled substances, possession with intent to distribute such substances, or attempt or conspiracy to do so and therefore already prohibit the very conduct S. 32 was drafted to reach. Our federal code contains over 5,000 offenses carrying criminal penalties, but a precise count eludes not only the Congressional research service but also the Department of Justice, the agency charged with prosecuting those offenses.…”