Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 2024

Floor Speech

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Mrs. GONZALEZ-COLON. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 9598, the Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 2024, of which I am an original cosponsor.

I am pleased this legislation includes my bill, H.R. 920, the Caribbean Border Counternarcotics Strategy Act, to combat drug trafficking from the Caribbean region into the United States with a particular focus on Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The smuggling of illicit drugs across our Nation's borders poses a major threat to our communities, fueling both the overdose epidemic and drug-related violent crime. To tackle this, Congress has tasked the Office of National Drug Control Policy, or ONDCP, with overseeing and coordinating the Federal Government's counterdrug efforts.

This includes the development and implementation of the National Drug Control Strategy every 2 years. By law, this strategy must also include supplemental strategies to prevent drug trafficking across the southwest and the northern border.

In response to congressional directives placed in appropriations reports, ONDCP has also previously released strategies to combat the flow of illegal drugs coming through our third border in the Caribbean.

However, unlike the existing statutory requirement to issue the Southwest Border and the Northern Border Counternarcotics Strategies, there is currently no requirement in statute to develop this Caribbean Border Counternarcotics Strategy despite the ongoing threats we face from drug traffickers operating in the region.

For instance, according to data shared by the U.S. Coast Guard with my office, the known maritime cocaine flow in the U.S. moving through the Caribbean grew from 652 metric tons in fiscal year 2020 to 950 metric tons in fiscal year 2023, an almost 46 percent increase in this 4-year period.

This proves that transnational criminal organizations continue to rely on Caribbean smuggling routes to transport illegal drugs and endanger communities across the Nation.

Nowhere is this risk more apparent than in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, home to 3.3 million Americans and where the illicit activities of drug traffickers contribute to violence and higher-than- average homicide rates.

Just in fiscal year 2023 alone, Federal law enforcement authorities seized over 80,000 kilograms of drugs in and around the two territories. Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are also used as transshipment points to smuggle drugs into the mainland.

Law enforcement agencies estimate that anywhere between 70 and 80 percent of the drugs that enter Puerto Rico are then transported to the continental U.S. This underscores that the threats posed by Caribbean- based drug traffickers are national in scope and require that the Federal Government has the necessary strategy in place to strengthen interdiction operations in the region.

That is why we introduced H.R. 920, the Caribbean Border Counternarcotics Strategy Act, which will codify the requirement for ONDCP to include a Caribbean Border Counternarcotics Strategy in the National Drug Control Strategy, just as it is required by law to include a Southwest Border and a Northern Border Counternarcotics Strategy.

Additionally, to crack down on the financing schemes and money laundering operations that support the illicit narcotics trade, H.R. 920 will amend the definition of supply reduction in ONDCP's authorization to ensure the National Drug Control Strategy and its supplemental border strategies explicitly include activities to track and disrupt the financial networks of drug trafficking organizations.

I thank Chairman Comer and his staff for working with us to incorporate my bill within H.R. 9598, the bipartisan Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 2024. I also recognize Ranking Member Raskin for his support, and I thank Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett who was my co-lead on the Caribbean Border Counternarcotics Strategy Act, as well as Senator Rick Scott and Senator Alex Padilla who introduced the Senate companion bill.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 9598.

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