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105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1690

To provide for the transfer of certain employees of the Internal Revenue

Service to the Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration,

to establish the Department of National Drug Control Policy, and for

other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

FEBRUARY 26, 1998

Mr. FAIRCLOTH introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs

A BILL

To provide for the transfer of certain employees of the Internal Revenue Service to the Department of Justice, Drug

Enforcement Administration, to establish the Department of National Drug Control Policy, and for other

purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Priorities

5 Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—
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1 (1) despite many billions of dollars being spent

2 by the Federal, State, and local governments on the

3 war on drugs, over the last 5 years there has been

4 a serious deterioration in the level of drug use, espe5 cially among young people;

6 (2) one significant reason for this deterioration

7 is a serious national misapplication of Federal re8 sources;

9 (3) the Drug Enforcement Administration,

10 which is at the national forefront of the war on

11 drugs, has only 8,449 personnel, 4,238 of whom are

12 special agents;

13 (4) the Internal Revenue Service employs ap14 proximately 100,000 persons, 46,000 of whom are

15 enforcement officials;

16 (5) recent congressional oversight has revealed

17 that the Internal Revenue Service has excess civil

18 and criminal enforcement resources, much of which

19 is not serving the public interest;

20 (6) numerous other Federal departments and

21 agencies have similar excess resources; and

22 (7) winning the war on drugs is a priority equal

23 to, if not more important than, that assigned to

24 other functions of the Federal Government, and ac25 cordingly requires not only a reallocation of national
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1 resources, but also the establishment of a Depart2 ment of National Drug Control Policy, to fully mar3 shal and coordinate the available Federal resources.

4 SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT OF NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL POL5 ICY.

6 (a) REDESIGNATION.—Effective on January 1,

7 1999—

8 (1) there is established in the executive branch

9 of the Federal Government a Department of Na10 tional Drug Control Policy, at the head of which

11 shall be a Secretary of National Drug Control Pol12 icy; and

13 (2) the Office of National Drug Control Policy

14 established under section 1002 of the National Nar15 cotics Leadership Act of 1988 (21 U.S.C. 1501) is

16 abolished; and

17 (3) there are transferred to the Department of

18 National Drug Control Policy established under

19 paragraph (1) all functions that the Director of the

20 Office of National Drug Control Policy exercised on

21 December 31, 1998 (including all related functions

22 of any officer or employee of the Office of National

23 Drug Control Policy).

24 (b) REFERENCES.—Effective on January 1, 1999,

25 any reference in any Federal law, Executive order, rule,
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1 regulation, or delegation of authority, or any document of

2 or pertaining—

3 (1) to the Office of National Drug Control Pol4 icy shall be deemed to refer to the Department of

5 National Drug Control Policy;

6 (2) to the Director of the Office of National

7 Drug Control Policy shall be deemed to refer to the

8 Secretary of National Drug Control Policy;

9 (3) to the Deputy Director of National Drug

10 Control Policy shall be deemed to refer to the Dep11 uty Secretary of National Drug Control Policy; or

12 (4) to any Assistant Administrator of the Office

13 of National Drug Control Policy shall be deemed to

14 refer to an Assistant Secretary of National Drug

15 Control Policy.

16 (c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 90 days

17 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of

18 the Office of Management and Budget shall submit to

19 Congress a report describing—

20 (1) a detailed legislative proposal for technical

21 and conforming amendments necessary to carry out

22 this section; and

23 (2) the resources and potential resources of the

24 Federal Government available to the Department of

25 National Drug Control Policy established under sub-
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1 section (a) from other departments and agencies of

2 the Federal government, with an emphasis on any

3 resources available from the Internal Revenue Serv4 ice.

5 SEC. 4. TRANSFER OF IRS EMPLOYEES TO DEA.

6 Not later than January 1, 1999, the Director of the

7 Office of Management and Budget, in consultation with

8 the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Com9 missioner of the Internal Revenue Service, shall transfer

not more than 331 10 ⁄3 percent of all employees of the Inter11 nal Revenue Service who are engaged in enforcement ac12 tivities to the Drug Enforcement Agency of the Depart13 ment of Justice to assist in carrying out the enforcement

14 activities of the Drug Enforcement Agency.

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