Amendment Offered by Mr. Flake

AMENDMENT OFFERED BY MR. FLAKE

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Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this amendment to provide $5 million for the Drug Endangered Children Program.

I want to thank Chairman Wolf and Ranking Member Mollohan for their work to increase funding for many law enforcement programs and the fight against methamphetamine. I am particularly encouraged by the $99 million allocated for the Meth Hot Spots Account in this appropriations bill.

I respect the tough job our appropriators have in writing these spending bills. They have admirably allocated dollars to programs that help our law enforcement do their job. However, one authorized program that was not fortunate to receive dollars in this bill is the Drug Endangered Children Program.

Children are too often the silent victims of drug abuse. As a cochair of the House Meth Caucus, I have talked to many social service workers and treatment providers about the risks that drug-endangered children face. I have heard repeated stories of meth users leaving their children unattended for days as they cook and use methamphetamine and sleep off its intense effects.

We have often talked about the need for more money to help local law enforcement to bust the bad guys, but we rarely talk about the impact those busts have on the kids who may be living in drug-infested homes.

So I want to thank the gentleman from California for his work on this amendment, and I urge a ``yes'' vote, and I want to thank the chairman for accepting this amendment as well.

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