Click HERE to learn about the new Congressional Drug Policy Caucus, of which Phil is a founding member.  For a complete list of Phil’s caucuses, click HERE.

The Marietta Daily Journal reports this morning on efforts to reduce drug trafficking in the Atlanta area:

White House Director of National Drug Control Policy John Walters on Monday named Cobb as one of two metro-Atlanta counties that will benefit from a federal crackdown on illegal drug trafficking.

Walters and Congressman Phil Gingrey (R-Marietta) made the announcement at Cobb Police headquarters Monday morning as they presented a check for $1.1 million to Jack Killorin, director of the Atlanta-area High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program.

Walters explained the critical nature of Atlanta’s drug problem:

“That Atlanta area has become a hub,” Walters said. “It has become a way in which traffic coming across the southwest border comes up and is distributed in the eastern part of the United States. It’s not coming from Miami. It’s coming from Atlanta.”

Phil noted that while the inclusion of Cobb County in this anti-trafficking program was a tremendous step forward, there is still more to be done in the future:

“We felt it very necessary that we expanded the (Atlanta-area program),” Gingrey said. “We want to eventually get into northwest Georgia where there are a lot of clandestine laboratories for the production of methamphetamines, which is ruining a lot of people’s lives.”

For more information on the $1.1 Million grant, click HERE.

An interesting addendum to the meth story below…

As you may know, I traveled to the U.S./ Mexico border earlier this month. During my visit, I spoke with many law enforcement officials who informed me of a startling truth about meth: smuggling is on the decline because illegal smugglers have realized it is easier to make the drug here in the United States without the risk of losing their stash to drug sniffing dogs, border patrol or ICE agents. 

We are dealing with a drug that is increasingly being created and distributed right here in our communities, and we can not turn a blind eye to this crisis.

I was not surprised by yesterday’s announcement that the Drug Enforcement Administration found nearly $50 million in crystal methamphetamines at a home in Gwinnett County.  Methamphetamine abuse is a growing problem in Georgia and across the nation, and it is endangering the lives of both abusers and innocent bystanders in our communities.

The Gwinnett seizure joins a methamphetamine seizure in Smyrna last year on the DEA’s list of the nation’s largest meth busts.  It is clear methamphedamine abuse poses a grave and growing danger to Georgia’s citizens, and we can not turn a blind eye to this crisis.

That’s why I was proud to vote for the Methamphetamine Epidemic Elimination Act, which Congress passed earlier this year.  This legislation gives law enforcement officials stronger tools to fight the epidemic of methamphetamine abuse, and controls the sale of precursor drugs (common, over-the-counter medicines used in the production of meth).  It also establishes tougher federal penalties for methamphetamine traffickers and smugglers as well as those who produce or deal meth in the presence of children.

We must stay tough on methamphetamine abuse in our communities. I think William Thomas, who oversees of a U.S. Department of Justice drug task force, hit the nail on the head when he commented:

“These seizures show that Atlanta is a significant player in the world of major drug traffickers,” said Thomas. “But we are saying to the trafficker that Atlanta is not the place to do business. All it will get you is a lengthy federal prison sentence.” (Atlanta Journal Constitution, 8/22/06)

For more on this story, read today’s Atlanta Journal Constitution story. I’ve included some exerts below:

Federal agents stormed a Gwinnett County home and seized what could be as much as $50 million in crystal methamphetamines, authorities announced Monday morning. Seized was 187 pounds of meth, a dozen kilograms of cocaine and four men who were arrested during the raid of a Buford home last Wednesday, said Sherri Strange, special agent in charge of the Atlanta office of the Drug Enforcement Agency.

Strange called the huge seizure one of the largest crystal methamphetamine busts on the East Coast.

Strange said the street value of the drugs could range from $25 to $50 million depending on what quantity the drugs were sold in.

I’ll post additional news on this topic as it is reported.

Today, the House is debating the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act. I absolutely support the goals of the VRA – which is why I believe we need to modernize it so it applies to all states, wherever voter disenfranchisement occurs.

It might surprise you to know that right now, the Voting Rights Act covers states based on election data from 1964.  That’s right – data from the Johnson/Goldwater election. 

I strongly support an amendment by my Georgia colleague Charlie Norwood that would use the most recent election data – not data that is 40 years old – in determining which states fall under the “pre-clearance” section of the VRA. This is a common sense modernization for an important piece of legislation.

Click here to read my statement before Congress on this important issue, and here to watch a video of my speech.

You can also read my column on modernizing the VRA here on the Marietta Daily Journal’s website.

This morning, both the Marietta Daily Journal and the Rome News-Tribune ran op-eds from Phil on modernizing the Voting Rights Act.

Phil noted:

The Voting Rights Act is an important piece of legislation, one that ensures American citizens have access to their fundamental right of electing a representative government. However, the VRA is grossly out-of-date and in dire need of modernization. Currently, the formulas that determine which states need the VRA’s protection are based on election data from 1964. That’s right - Georgia is being judged on how our citizens voted when Barry Goldwater ran against Lyndon Johnson.

Never mind that today, a higher percentage of blacks vote in our state than do whites. To the VRA, it’s always Jim Crow in Georgia.

We don’t base any other laws on population data from the 1960s, and this shouldn’t be the case for the VRA, either.