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Hearings Today on U.S. Drug Aid to Mexico

the House Homeland Security Agency (Subcommittee on Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism) will hold a hearing on President Obama's plan to extend the Merida Initiative with Mexico, began under President Bush, with a plan to spend 1.3 billion on the war on drugs.

The heaering is called "“U.S.-Mexico Security Cooperation: Next Steps for the Merida Initiative.

You can watch the live feed here.

Testimony at Hearing will be provided by: [more...]

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Obama Plans to Extend Merida Initiative in Drug War Fight

When Mexico's President, Felipe Calderon, came to Washington this week, he urged the U.S. to be more helpful in the war on drugs. He asked that Congress reinstate the assault weapons ban (for which Republicans like Sen. John Cornyn took him to task, saying "Moreover, the Second Amendment is not a subject open for diplomatic negotiation, with Mexico or any other nation.") Calederon also criticized Arizona's immigration law. And he said the U.S. has a moral obligation to help Mexico fight the cartels.

In 2007, former President Bush got Congress to approve the Merida initiative, designed to to combat drug trafficking and organized crime, with a whopping $1.3 billion budgeted for Mexico from 2008-2010, ten times the amount budgeted in prior years.

Merida is set to expire in September, 2010, and Obama is now asking to extend it a year and provide an additional $310 million for FY 2011.

So where did the money go? Mostly, it turns out, nowhere. [More...]

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