Patrick Leahy: “I think one thing should unite all of us, and I think it does. What unites the Senator from Georgia, Mr. Coverdell…”

“I think one thing should unite all of us, and I think it does. What unites the Senator from Georgia, Mr. Coverdell, myself, and everybody else in here is that we are opposed to international drug trafficking. Back when I was a prosecutor we did not have the problem we have now, but I used to throw people in jail for drug trafficking. None of us needs to stand up and say that we declare our opposition to drug traffic. What bothers me about the Coverdell amendment is that it cuts funds in the bill for international environmental, humanitarian, and development programs. It is going to cut UNICEF by at least $5 million, probably $10 million, potentially as much as $17 million. I even heard about an organization called Olympic Aid Atlanta, an initiative out of Atlanta, GA, to generate money to help children affected by conflict in 14 countries through UNICEF. They are going to get cut, in all likelihood, because we transfer the funds to counter narcotics. This amendment is virtually identical to one offered a couple of years ago. That was defeated 57 to 38 in a bipartisan vote. Anybody who doubts what we do, we have spent over $1 billion, that is $1,000 million, on the international narcotics program in the past 6 years. That is only one set of many, many sources on funding to combat drugs overseas. The House version of this year's State, Justice, Commerce appropriation bill has $75 million more for the narcotics programs than the President requested.”