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OCR Page 1 of 64SUGGESTED CHANGES TO COVERDELL AMENDMENT
DROP/AMEND "POISON PILLS"
The Coverdell amendment includes three major "poison pills" that need to be dropped or
substantially amended. These include:
(1) Customs anti-labor provisions that undermine collective bargaining (page 13,
line 21 through page 17, line 10). The FOP, NTEU and FLEOA strongly oppose
these provisions, and the Administration opposed them in the House version of
the Drug-Free Borders Act. We should continue to push to have them dropped.
(2) Public and private school vouchers for students who are victims of violent and
drug-related crimes (page 21, line 3 through page 26, line 8). The Administration
has threatened to veto similar language in the past, and this provision is
unacceptable to most Democrats and key moderate Republicans. Two alternatives
to consider here for a substitute amendment include a $50 million authorization
for the Administration's Drug and Violence Prevention Coordinators program
(see attached) -- or language to make drug and violence prevention programs
eligible for the education portion of Tobacco Fund (see attached). Education has
already shared the Coordinators language with Kennedy. Biden is unsure if the
moderate R's will actually want to open the Tobacco Trust fund to drug education
and prevention.
(3) Needles ban-plus (page 42, line 8 through 16). This language should either be
deleted or amended to to apply only to the next fiscal year. Another option, which
I understand Biden is contemplating, is to authorize another study.
CONSIDER PROPOSING FUNDS FOR COMBINED DRUG/TOBACCO ENFORCEMENT
As you know, the Coverdell amendment proposes increasing drug interdiction and
enforcement funds for Customs, DOD, Coast Guard, Border Patrol, FBI, and DEA by
about $2 billion per year. No funds are included for state and local law enforcement. An
alternative to Coverdell's approach could be to guarantee funds to the key federal law
enforcement agencies that are charged with both tobacco and drug enforcement -- as well
as to their counterparts in state and local law enforcement. Attached is an amendment
that would authorize: (1) $200 million per year for state and local law enforcement to
increase their drug and tobacco enforcement efforts; and (2) $100 million per year for
ATF and Customs to crack down on tobacco smuggling and drug trafficking. The state
and local funds would come off the top of the Tobacco Trust Fund, as with Veterans'
program, and the ATF/Customs funds would be guaranteed from the enforcement portion
of the public health fund.
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