James Comer aligns with ranking Democrat on bill to fight drug trafficking at southern border

House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer teamed up with Jamie Raskin, the Democrats' ranking member in the body, to introduce a bipartisan bill aimed at beefing up law enforcement operations on drug trafficking at the southern border.

Concretely, the introduced the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Reauthorization Act of 2024 (H.R. 9598), which seeks to "reauthorize the ONDCP and related programs and ensure federal agencies are properly resourced to hold accountable those who are trafficking drugs into the country."

The bill reauthorizes and funds a series of programs with that purpose, also incorporating "key aspects of the "HIDTA Reauthorization Act (H.R. 7185), led by Rep. John Duarte (R-Calif.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), to bolster local law enforcement resources to combat fentanyl and temporarily reassign prosecutorial resources.

The bill is also sponsored by members of both parties: John Duarte (R-Calif.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Stacey Plaskett (D-U.S. Virgin Islands) for the Democrats and Jennifer González-Colón (R-Puerto Rico) for Republicans.

The initiative is a rare bipartisan effort amid several others led by Republicans and aimed at criticizing the current administration for what they describe as failures to address border security issues.

Ever since Kamala Harris rose to the top of the ticket, Republicans — led by former President Donald Trump— have also taken the opportunity to dub the Vice President as the "border czar" due to her prior involvement in dealing with the "root causes" of immigration: economic malaise and a lack of opportunities in Central American countries from which a large portion of those seeking to reach the U.S. depart from.

In fact, Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green is set to hold a hearing on Wednesday on on what he has described as the "Biden-Harris administration's catastrophic border record."

The hearing will seek to examine "how the crisis has undermined the safety and security of communities across our country, and how their unlawful, open-borders, and anti-enforcement policies impact DHS law enforcement."

On Thursday, Comer himself will also hold a hearing on the the Biden administration's "policy failures." In a statement announcing the hearing, Comer accused the administration of causing "skyrocketing inflation, the worst border crisis in American history, high energy prices, chaos around the world, and rampant waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement at federal agencies."

The outlet detailed that the hearing will include testimony from FCC member Brendan Carr, Center for Immigration Studies Executive Director Mark Krikorian, a member of the Independent Women's Forum and former EPA official Mandy Gunasekera.