Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2008

Floor Speech

FINANCIAL SERVICES AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008 -- (House of Representatives - June 27, 2007)

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Mr. BOOZMAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

My amendment would encourage the Office of National Drug Control Policy to give careful consideration to States that do not currently benefit from the HIDTA program when considering the request of law enforcement agencies for a new HIDTA designation.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 2006 was enacted on December 27, 2006. This law requires the Director of ONDCP to establish regulations under which a coalition of interested law enforcement agencies from an area may petition for designation as a high intensity drug trafficking area.

My amendment would require that of the $226 million in HIDTA funding in the underlying bill, $6 million will not be made available until the Director of the ONDCP certifies in writing that specific regulations have been established for the consideration of HIDTA application. Specifically, the Director must take into consideration whether an area that may be designated as a HIDTA lies within a State that already receives assistance from the HIDTA program.

I do not believe we should mandate a preference for States like Arkansas that have been overlooked in the designation process, but I do believe we should encourage ONDCP to take this fact into consideration when reviewing HIDTA applications.

I have seen the tragic effects of increased drug manufacturing and trafficking in Arkansas, especially the trafficking of meth. Arkansas is one of several States, including Minnesota, North Carolina, South Carolina, Delaware and several others, that have been excluded from the HIDTA program, despite many characteristics that make it both an ideal setting for illegal drug manufacturing and perfectly situated for trafficking.

In recent years Arkansas has made great progress and has much to be proud of, but we still face serious challenges when it comes to drug trafficking. Our State has one of the most serious meth problems per capita of any State in the country. Our State has become home to branches of some of the Nation's major gangs and has a transportation network that makes it ideal for drug traffickers targeting metropolitan areas, including St. Louis, Little Rock, Chicago, Memphis, Kansas City and so on. My congressional district has one of the top 10 fastest-growing metropolitan statistical areas in the Nation, and recently our State's largest city found itself high on a list of cities in the Nation suffering from violent crime.

Again, I am really discouraged in the sense that despite all of these facts, Arkansas and several States in similar situations have been overlooked in the HIDTA designation process. I don't ask for special preference for my State, but I do request that ONDCP give fair consideration to States in my situation.

I want to thank the chairman and ranking member for their hard work on the underlying bill. But again, this is just an effort to try and help the States that are in the same situation as Arkansas.

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