WASHINGTON – Two bills led out of the Senate Judiciary Committee by Chairman Chuck Grassley were signed into law Monday to combat the flow of dangerous drugs into the United States and to protect America’s law enforcement officers.
The Transnational Drug Trafficking Act, S. 32, grants the Justice Department new tools to prosecute international drug traffickers in foreign countries. The law will help the Justice Department build extradition cases on drug kingpins from the Andean region, which includes Colombia and Peru. Kingpins from these countries often use Mexican drug trafficking organizations as intermediaries to ship illegal narcotics to the United States. In particular, the bill also would help the department combat the international trafficking of methamphetamine and precursor chemicals used to make methamphetamine, which is increasingly being trafficked from Mexico into the United States, including into Iowa. Meth continues to be a problem in Iowa. Meth-related treatment admissions are at an all-time high in Iowa, and in recent years, nearly half of all drug-related prison admissions in Iowa resulted from the trafficking or abuse of meth. Senator Grassley convened a Judiciary Committee field hearing in Des Moines last October addressing the ongoing problem of meth in Iowa, during which he called for the House of Representatives to pass the bill and send it to the president.
The Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Program Reauthorization Act, S.125, extends a federal grant program to assist state and local law enforcement in acquiring body armor. The bill contains several accountability measures championed by Grassley to ensure resources are effectively used, securing the greatest possible benefit for America’s law enforcement officers.
Thus far under Grassley’s leadership, nine bills reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee have been signed into law, compared with five bills in the previous Congress under different management.
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