Congressman Evan Jenkins hosted a roundtable discussion Friday morning in Huntington with
representatives of law enforcement and an anti-drug trafficking program.
The focus of the roundtable discussion was to point out the importance of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program to each wing of law enforcement in the area.
The discussion comes on the heels of a budget proposal by the current Obama administration that would cutHIDTA’sfunding by $51.6 million, taking it from $245 million to $193.4 million. Jenkins instead has requested anincreasein the budget forHIDTA.
"I wanted to get the director ofHIDTAwho makes these allocation decisions around the table with the local law enforcement entities who depend upon theHIDTAfunding to talk about the consequences of those cuts and make it loud and clear that we’re going to fight to make sure those funds aren’t cut," Jenkins said.
Jenkins said the positive impact of those funds is too significant to think about cutting the amountHIDTAhas to operate locally.
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