Merida Initiative to Combat Illicit Narcotics and Reduce Organized Crime Authorization Act of 2008

MERIDA INITIATIVE TO COMBAT ILLICIT NARCOTICS AND REDUCE ORGANIZED CRIME AUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2008 -- (House of Representatives - June 10, 2008)

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Mr. McCAUL of Texas. I thank the gentlelady from Florida.

Mr. Speaker, let me say first that I support a military strategy to deal with the drug cartels. Having come from Texas, having worked counterterrorism with the Justice Department at the Mexican border, I know firsthand what a direct threat to the security of this Nation these drug cartels present. They export drugs. They poison our children. They export human trafficking. They bring special interest aliens into this country, some of whom are not caught. And in the post-9/11 world, they present a threat that we can no longer ignore. And they must be dealt with. That is why I have been supportive of this initiative.

However, I believe that we need a strategy on this side of the border, as well. I believe we need a two-pronged approach, if you will, a comprehensive strategy that deals not only with the Mexican side but with the U.S. side. And for too long, our border sheriffs and our Border Patrol agents have been outmanned and outgunned. And if we are going to provide assistance to Mexico, it seems to me we ought to be providing assistance to our men and women on our side fighting this war every day.

I had a unique opportunity to meet with President Calderon. He told me that he is at war with the drug cartels. He is at war with these drug cartels. And we need to fight this war against the drug cartels.

And I believe the best way to do that is provide the military assistance, but also provide the resources necessary on this side of our border, which is why I offered an amendment at the foreign affairs markup of this bill to provide $1.4 billion, an equal amount, if you will, over 3 years for our Federal, State and local law enforcement, including the border sheriffs. And Chairman Berman was supportive of this amendment. The chairman sits on the Judiciary Committee. It was my sincere hope that this amendment would have been taken up by the Judiciary Committee when they marked up this bill, as well.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen. And the Judiciary Committee decided not to take up this bill. In addition, instead of having an open rule whereby it could offer this amendment on the floor, we have a closed rule, and this vote is now under suspension. I believe this is a missed opportunity. I believe it is a missed opportunity to have a really comprehensive bill that could have had strong bipartisan support, that had the approach and the strategy that I just outlined, a military strategy on the Mexican side of the border, and a beefed up law enforcement on this side of the border. That is how we are going to achieve true border security in this Nation. So I just wanted to present that objection.

It is my sincere hope we can fix this and add this amendment at some point in the process to give our law enforcement on this side of the border the tools that they need, also, to win this war against the drug cartels.

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