WASHINGTON, DC -- As federal budget hearings continue for fiscal year 2025 funding, U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers (KY-05), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science, questioned U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland about the Department of Justice's (DOJ) plans to keep our country safe. 

Chairman Rogers, a long-time champion in the fight to combat the opioid epidemic, first questioned how the DOJ is working to curb the fentanyl poisoning epidemic that now accounts for approximately two-thirds of nation's overdose deaths. 

"The (DOJ) budget puts a department-wide emphasis on equipping federal agents with body cameras. Drug cartels and their crime syndicates in the United States must be decimated, period. The death and devastation the cartels and gangs have inflicted on American families, and bringing them to justice, ought to be the department's top priority," said Chairman Rogers. "Whether agents doing the decimating have a camera attached to them is secondary, by far." 

Chairman Rogers also criticized the Biden Administration's efforts to push the border crisis to the back burner. 

"People and drugs continue to flow across our southern border, in blatant contravention of our laws. In an ever-evolving situation, last year 50 times more Chinese citizens were apprehended crossing illegally from Mexico, compared to two years ago...fifty times more. When landowners attempt to protect their life and property, they end up being arrested," said Chairman Rogers, Dean of the House. "When will the madness stop? Perhaps when this administration takes the cuffs off law enforcement and allows them to do their job." 

Federal funding hearings for fiscal year 2025 continue this week as House appropriators weigh the nation's priorities. 

For more information about Congressman Rogers' work on Capitol Hill and at home in Kentucky, visit halrogers.house.gov and follow him on social media. 

Click here to watch today's CJS budget hearing with AG Garland.