Pubdate: September 17, 1998 Source: Los Angeles Times (CA) Contact: http://www.latimes.com/ Author: Cassandra Burrell, Associated Press Writer WHITE HOUSE CRITICIZES DRUG BILL If the Clinton administration doesn't have the will to get tougher in the fight against drugs, Congress will step in, House Speaker Newt Gingrich says. He spoke shortly before the House voted 384 -39 on Wednesday to add $2.6 billion over three years to the government's drug-interdiction efforts. The Senate has not yet voted on the measure, and the White House's drug policy coordinator has urged lawmakers to reject it. Retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey said extra money is always welcome. But he criticized the bill as an ill-conceived exercise in micromanagement possibly motivated by election-year politics. "This bill is not the answer," McCaffrey told reporters Wednesday after speaking before a joint meeting of two Senate subcommittees. "I understand that elections are coming, but they should not vote for this bill." Republicans have long criticized the administration for what they believe is a lax and failed drug policy that puts too much emphasis on education and prevention and not enough on law enforcement and punishment. They contend that until Clinton took office in 1992, close to 33 percent of the government's drug-fighting budget was devoted to interdiction and activities in countries where raw materials for illegal narcotics are grown. Today, that percentage is about 13 percent. Introduced in both the House and the Senate, the bill would authorize spending $2.6 billion over three years for illegal drug-fighting efforts involving interdiction, law enforcement and U.S. activities in countries where illegal drugs are produced. The bill does not say where the money would come from. McCaffrey called the bill's goals unrealistic and said its provisions are not tied to a coherent strategy or based on informed analysis of the drug problem. Furthermore, some provisions authorize the purchase of equipment he's never heard of and micromanages decisions that would be better left to officials paid to make them, he said. Sen. Paul Coverdell, R-Ga., disagreed, saying the bill would help restore balance in the nation's anti-drug strategy. "During the late 1980s, our drug policies produced encouraging results," Coverdell said at a joint meeting of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee and its Caucus on International Narcotics Control. "We have, since 1992, virtually abandoned this approach. ... The bottom line is that as we shifted resources away from interdiction, it became easier for drug traffickers to transport illegal drugs into this country." McCaffrey insisted the amount of money spent on interdiction has increased in recent years and is being spent more efficiently than a decade ago, and that the bill infringes on the authority of the president and the secretary of state. The House also voted 396 -9 to pass a separate bill that would establish several programs designed to reduce the use of illegal drugs in the United States, including one that would promote medications used to treat addiction. It also would authorize $195 million each year to expand an anti-drug media campaign which has been operating on a trial basis in only a few cities nationwide. - - - - The House bill is H.R. 4300. The Senate bill is S. 2341. Copyright 1998 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved - --- Checked-by: Rolf Ernst