mr. sensenbrenner is recognized for his questions. >> thanks very much, mr. chairman. mr. attorney general, i do want to echo mr. conyer's commendation of you for coming before us on a regular basis. i know it takes a lot of time to prepare, i also know you don't know what's going to get thrown at you. and sometimes there will be curve balls. i hope mine is a curveball. i want to talk a little bit about the florida voter registration case. and it appeared in the "new york times" yesterday there was an article there about the state defending its search for ineligible voters and secretary of state ken ditsner of florida sent a letter to mr. haron of the voting section of the civil rights division talking about the problem. and the problem is simply this, and that is as florida's trying to purge its voter registration rolls of noncitizens including illegal immigrants, people are clearly not eligible to vote. and the department of homeland security has had a nine-month delay in giving the national voter registration laws to the state and now mr. haren appears to be taking the

mr. sensenbrenner earlier called this a model of due process. in fact, the letters going to voters say they will be removed if they fail to respond within 30 days. the governor believes failure to respond to a letter within 30 days is reason enough to lose your right to vote even if you're a u.s. citizen. maybe you moved. maybe you don't read your mail. maybe it got lost. maybe, general holder, you're a different elderly veteran of world war ii who received the letter the week his wife died and threw it out because he didn't have time to deal with the preposterous assertion that he's not a united states citizen. that happened mr. attorney general. i applauded you last friday for requesting florida suspend this unaccountable purge. the doj rightly pointed out federal voter laws prohibit voter purges within 90 days of election. the closer you get to an election the less time you have to correct mistakes. mistakes like disenfranchising voters. now, i'm aware the governor responded to you late last night in a letter that showcases his administration

mr. sensenbrenner, for two minutes. thspeaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized for two minutes. mr. sensenbrenner: mr. speaker, this isn't about politics. this is about th constitution. and it's about congress' map date to do oversight -- mandate to do oversight over both executive and judicial branches of government. the president is asserting executive privilege to attempt to shield these documents. and he is relying on a type of primpling called the deliberative process privilege. however, that privilege disappears when congress' investigating evidence of wrongdoing. and in 1997 the u.s. court of appeals for the district of columbia circuit wrote in part, moreover, the privilege disappears altogether when there is any reason to believe that government misconduct has occurred. in another case, it was decided by the first circuit in 1995, it says that the grounds that shielding internal government deliberations inhis context does not serve the public interest in honest, effective government. ther

mr. sensenbrenner, for two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized for two minutes. mr. sensenbrenner: mr. speaker, this isn't about politics. this is about the constitution. and it's about congress' map date to do oversight -- mandate to do oversight over both executive and judicial branches of government. the president is asserting executive privilege to attempt to shield these documents. and he is relying on a type of primpling called the deliberative process privilege. however, that privilege disappears when congress' investigating evidence of wrongdoing. and in 1997 the u.s. court of appeals for the district of columbia circuit wrote in part, moreover, the privilege disappears altogether when there is any reason to believe that government misconduct has occurred. in another case, it was decided by the first circuit in 1995, it says that the grounds that shielding internal government deliberations in this context does not serve the public interest in honest, effective government.

mr. conyers. >> thank you, chairman sensenbrenner. i feel, and i appreciate your announcing that there would be continued hearings about dea and its role. you will note, madame director, that i originally pointed out in my remarks that we spend huge amounts of resources, and the rate of illegal drug activity continues at about the same pace to have you been able to reflect on that in terms of how this keeps going on? and what we might be able to do about it? >> thank you for the question, sir. i think there's a lot of misinformation and misperceptions about actually the drug situation, and especially when it comes to teens. so i want to tell you that 650,000 fewer teenagers are using drugs today than a decade earlier. and that's a 15% decline. the balance drug strategy that would have has played a role. marijuana use by teens has dropped 7%. methamphetamine has plummeted 67%. ecstasy use has been slashed 42%, and cocaine use is down 40% since 2006. method has dropped even more, 50%, since 2006. so we do see these drops in teen drug us

mr. sensenbrenner, for two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized for two minutes. mr. sensenbrenner: mr. speaker, this isn't about politics. this is about the constitution. and it's about congress' map date to do oversight -- mandate to do oversight over both executive and judicial branches of government. the president is asserting executive privilege to attempt to shield these documents. and he is relying on a type of primpling called the deliberative process privilege. however, that privilege disappears when congress' investigating evidence of wrongdoing. and in 1997 e u.s. court of appeals for the district of columbia circuit wrote in part, moreover, the privilege disappears altogether when there is any reason to believe that government misconduct has occurred. in another case, it was decided by the first circuit in 1995, it says that the grounds that shielding internal government deliberations in this context does not serve the public interest in honest, effective government. t

mr. sensenbrenner: madam speaker, i thank the gentleman from texas for yielding me this time. i introduced h.r. 4223, the safe doses act, to address the problem of medical cargo theft across the united states. medical cargo theft poses significant health risks to patients who have no reason to no their medicines have been stolen and improperly cared for before being sold back into the legitimate supply chain. stolen medical cargo can kill or injure those patients that need reliable safe medicines. sophisticated and enterprising criminal organizations are stealing large quantities of medical products and selling them via the wholesale market into legitimate pharmacies and hospitals. they are putting patient safety at risk because improperly cared for medical products can be ineffective or harmful and such damaged products are often impossible for health care professionals to identify. high-value pharmaceuticals, including treatments for serious diseases, are frequent targets. unfortunately, these high-value items are the very type of sensitive products that need the most carefu

mr. sensenbrenner earlier called it the model of due process. the letters going to voters saying they will be removed if they fail to respond within 30 days. the company believes it fair to respond to live within 30 days is reason enough to lose your right to vote even if you're a u.s. citizen. maybe you move, maybe you don't read your mail, maybe it got lost. or maybe are different elderly veteran of world war ii and received a letter the week that his wife died and threw it out because he didn't have time to do with the preposterous thing that he is not a united states citizen. that happened, mr. attorney general. i applaud you last right for requesting that florida suspend this error ridden unaccountable and illegal border perch. the doj rightly point out the federal voter laws prohibited voter person within 90 days of election thanks to a law passed a few decades ago. the closer you get to an election the last time you have time to correct mistakes. mistakes like disenfranchising voters. i know where the government responded you late last ni

mr. conyers. >> thank you, chairman sensenbrenner. i feel and i appreciate your announcing that there will be continued hearings about d.e.a. and its role. you will note, madam director, that i originally pointed out in my remarks that we spend huge amounts of resources and the rate of illegal drug activity continues at about the same pace. have you been able to reflect on that in terms of how this keeps going on? and what we might be able to do about it? >> thank you for the question, sir. i think there's a lot of misinformation and misperceptions about actually the drug situation and especially when it comes to teams. i do want to tell you that will 650,000 fewer teenagers are using drugs today than a decade earlier. that's a 15% decline. the balanced drug strategy that we have has played a role. marijuana use by teens has dropped 7%. methamphetamine has plummeted 67%. ecstasy has been slashed 42%. and cocaine use is down 40% since 2006. meth has dropped even more, and that's 50% since 2006. so we do see these drops in teen drug use

. >> the gem and from wisconsin and sensenbrenner is minced recognized for his question. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to ask of mr. conyers commendation of you for coming before us in a very regular basis. i know it takes a lot of your time to prepare. i also know that you don't know what's going to get thrown at you and sometimes they will be curveballs and beanballs. i hope mine is a curveball. i want to talk a little bit about the florida voter registration case. it appeared in "the new york times" yesterday. there is an article there about the state for voters and secretary of state ken geithner of florida has sent a letter to mr. herron of the voting section of the civil right section talking about the problem. and the problem is simply this, and that is as florin is trying to purchase florida legislation rows of noncitizens including illegal immigrant, people who are clearly not eligible to vote and the department of homeland security has had a nine-month delay in getting the national voter registration laws to the state, not mr. herron appears to be taking a position that flo