Washington, D.C. - U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen (WA-02) announced today that the Science, State, Justice and Commerce Departments spending bill for fiscal year 2007 (H.R. 5672) passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 393 to 23.  The bill appropriates a total of $60.2 billion, including $2.6 billion for state and local law enforcement. 

Larsen helped to restore funding in this bill for the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne-JAG) program that provides grant money for multi-jurisdictional drug task forces. These funds enable cooperation and coordination among local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies as they work together to bust drug trafficking rings.  Despite the President’s elimination of funding for the Byrne-JAG program in his fiscal year 2007 budget, the Appropriations Committee allocated $367 million for the program.  Larsen, in cooperation with his colleagues, successfully secured an additional $75 million for the Byrne-JAG program through the amendment process bringing the total funding for the program to $442 million for fiscal year 2007.

“Byrne grants are critical to our local law enforcement and the fight against methamphetamine,” Larsen said.  “As Co-Chair of the Congressional Meth Caucus, I understand the importance of these funds to our drug task forces as they work to bust meth labs.”

“While the committee did an admirable job providing funds to state and local law enforcement programs that the President eliminated in his budget, the $367 million originally provided in this bill for the Byrne-JAG program was not enough to meet the needs of regional drug taskforces nation wide,” Larsen said. “I am proud that my colleagues and I were able to pass amendments to this bill that increased funding for Byrne-JAG by $75 million,” he concluded.

Larsen also helped secure $99 million, almost $60 million more than the president’s request, for the Meth Hot Spots Account.  These funds allow local law enforcement agencies to address public safety and the manufacturing, sale and use of methamphetamine.  In addition, the committee included language in the bill expressing that the committee “is aware that the production, trafficking, and abuse of methamphetamine, an extremely destructive and synthetic drug, continues to be a serious national problem.”

As co-chair of the Congressional Caucus to Fight and Control Methamphetamine Larsen has worked to direct congressional attention to the growing methamphetamine epidemic in America.

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