mr. kaine: and the fentanyl is labs,labs -- is made in and i guess it is also made in labs in china, is that how it is made in mexico? mr. dudley: our understanding and our work -- mr. chester: our understanding and our awareness in drug trafficking has increased over the last six months, so in order of magnitude, i cannot tell you, what what i can to you is that china is a significant supplier of fentanyl to the united states, ordered by individuals on the dark web around the internet and using the postal service to ship it directly to them. we also know that fentanyl is shipped into mexico, in some places mixed with dilutions and smuggled across the southwest border, and there are precursor chemicals that are shipped into mexico that can be used for the direction -- for the production of fentanyl. to the vectors coming into the united states, those are the two main ones that we see for finished fentanyl coming into the united states or it is manufactured in mexico. mr.kaine: i want to talk to

mr. kaine: thank you, mr. president, i rise to speak on an amendment that is going to be offered, lee amendment 3897 that deals with the federal fair housing act. i want to describe why i and many of my colleagues are opposed to the amendment. the amendment would eliminate the current affirmative furthering fair housing enforcement regulations promulgated by the department of housing and urban development. i want to go into that. mr. president, i'll start with a personal story. before i was in partisan elected politics i was a civil rights in richmond for 17 years. and about two-thirds of my legal practice was fair housing cases. and i'll just tell you the story about my first client and two lessons i learned from my first client that bear upon this amendment. i had barely hung my diploma on the wall in my office where i was the junior person among 12 lawyers when a client was referred to our firm and they did what is often the case, they send it to the newest person, somebody who needed some help, probono ass

mr. kaine: madam president, i rise to discuss the pending vacancy on the united states supreme court, and i do so on a very momentous day in american legal history. may 17, today, is the anniversary of the supreme court's decision in the pivotal case of brown vs. board of education. on may 17, 1954, the supreme court ruled that the promise of equality stated as paramount in the declaration of independence and then reaffirmed in the 14th amendment to the constitution passed in the aftermath of the civil war could not be denied to little school children based on their skin color. the brown v. board case was actually five cases consolidated together, one from virginia, one from kansas, one from delaware, one from south carolina and one from the district of columbia. while most of us know that the e in brown and what the case resolved, few remember that the brown ruling was in serious jeopardy because of the death of a supreme court justice and the deep divisions on the court among the remaining ei

kaine. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i just want to associate myself with the comments of senator graham and the chairman. and several others. particularly as you go to this nato meeting, this summer that will be so important in europe. it would be a great mistake in my view to not hain taken a level of force in afghanistan that is necessary to support the afghan security forces and the problem is this decision has to be made reasonably soon because we're not going to go from 9800 to 5500 in a couple of days at the end of the year. the process has to start this summer and i think it will be a mistake given that the taliban served notice that they don't view this struggle as over by any matter or means. so i hope that as you work with the nato allies, the message will come back from them and to the president that we need to maintain a significant force and a significant -- with the authorities necessary to adequately support our nato allies and the afghan security forces. secondly, just want to associate myself with comme

kaine. >> thank you mr. chanting to get witnesses. to get an idea of the scope of this challenge on the mexican side in terms of the black tar heroin is the poppy production for this heroin still significantly -- by the state of nayarit or is it more broadly distributed? mexico is a big country. i worry that we are not being specific enough. >> yes, senator. our latest crop estimate that was produced about two months ago shows two major growing areas in mexico, one in the state of guerrero and another in what is called the tri-border region and the northern part of the country. those are the two major growing areas in mexico. with very very small sporadic spots in other parts of the country but they are basic to concentrate in those two areas. >> and the fentanyl is made in labs and i gather most of the fentanyl is made in china and may be transmitted through mexico were made in labs in mexico? >> that is correct. and i will tell you our understanding and our awareness of the fentanyl traffic has evolved dramatically over the last six