Grassley is now the Ranking Member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs. This new subcommittee has jurisdiction over agencies such as the Justice Department, the FBI, the DEA, and the Office of National Drug Control Policy. It will focus on all crime-related areas, including terrorism and identity theft. The subcommittee is chaired by Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware.
"In addition to work on crime and drug legislation, this subcommittee gives us a forum to highlight important problems with federal law enforcement agencies and to pursue solutions either through legislative action or administrative changes," Grassley said. "Congress has a constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight of federal agencies and programs. It's a responsibility I take very seriously, and I look forward to the opportunities that come with this new assignment."
Grassley has compiled a successful record of fostering reforms of key government agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service and the Center for Medicare Services, the federal agency that runs the Medicare and Medicaid program.
He's been a member of the Judiciary Committee since 1981, where he has championed legislative initiatives to improve the federal courts; to strengthen anti-drug laws, including those aimed at methamphetamine; to expand laws that protect children from pornography; to help whistleblowers protect the federal Treasury from fraud by government contractors; and to enhance federal policies that target terrorist activity. Grassley's anti-terrorism work goes as far back as 1988, when an amendment he sponsored resulted in the closing of the PLO office. Grassley legislation enacted in the early 1990s requires the Treasury Department to annually report to Congress on terrorist assets held around the world and gave victims of terrorism tort law remedies.
Just this week, Grassley secured final congressional approval for a five-year extension of the Drug Free Communities Act, a 1997 law he sponsored to redirect anti-drug dollars out of the Washington bureaucracy and into the hands of community coalitions dedicated to fighting drug use.
The newly formed Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs will replace the Judiciary Subcommittee on Youth Violence. The change was made on Thursday.