Washington Roundup October 12, 2001
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House of Representatives and Senate Appropriations Committee Pass FY 2002 Funding Bill: Drug and Alcohol Treatment, Prevention, and Research

Receive Significant Funding Increases

This week, the House of Representatives and the Senate Appropriations Committee passed the  Labor, Health and Human Services and Education FY 2002 funding bill.  The bill would provide substantial funding increases for drug and alcohol treatment, prevention and research.  Increases would include:

While both bills would provide significant funding increases for drug and alcohol treatment, prevention, and research programs, there are some important differences between the bills.  These key differences include:

•                      The House-passed bill would provide $29 million more for the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment.  

•                      The Senate bill would provide $2 million more for the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention.

•                      The Senate bill would provide more funding for the National Institutes on Drug Abuse and Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

•                      The House bill would provide $37 million more for the Ryan White Care Act program. 

•                      While neither the House nor Senate bill would provide an overall funding increase for the Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities Program, the House-passed bill would move $88 million of the program’s funds into the State Grants portion of the program, which funds local prevention programming.

Most likely, the full Senate will pass its funding bill next week, after which the House and Senate bills will move to a Conference Committee.  During the Conference Committee process, selected members from the House and Senate will work out any differences between the two funding bills and will produce a revised bill for final passage by the House and Senate.  Presently, the timeline for this process is unclear, but Conference Committee meetings could start as early as next week.

Senate Judiciary Committee Holds Drug Czar Confirmation Hearing:

Drug Czar Nominee, John Walters, Testifies  

This week the Senate Judiciary Committee held the confirmation hearing for the Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, or “Drug Czar.”  The hearing, originally scheduled for September 11^th, had been canceled because of the terrorist attacks that occurred that day.  The Drug Czar is the last position in President Bush’s Cabinet to be considered for confirmation by the Senate.

John Walters, President Bush’s nominee for Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to offer a statement and answer questions.  Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ) introduced him to the Committee.  Both Senators are members of the Judiciary Committee who have known and worked with John Walters previously.  Both Senators expressed their personal support for Mr. Walters and stated their belief that he would serve as an excellent Drug Czar given his previous service as Deputy Director for Supply Reduction under former Drug Czar William Bennet and as Acting Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy after Bennett’s departure. 

Senator Biden (D-DE) presided over the hearing as the Chair of the Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs.  Senator Biden expressed his concern that John Walters is not the best candidate for Drug Czar because he does not fully support drug treatment, a key component of an effective national drug control strategy.  Senator Biden asked Mr. Walters several questions about drug treatment to explore this concern, as did other members of the Committee.  Mr. Walters stated that he does support drug treatment and prevention and their expansion as a way to effectively reduce the nation’s drug problem, and that he supports the President’s desire to expand access to these services.  Most of the questions asked during the hearing focused on the issues of drug treatment and prevention – very few questions were asked about interdiction or law enforcement. 

The Senate is expected to vote on John Walter’s confirmation sometime during the next two weeks.  At this time, it is expected that the Senate will confirm him.