House cuts DEA funding after 'sex parties' revelations

(Image credit: STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images)

published 3 June 2015

In March, a Department of Justice report revealed that agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had "sex parties" with prostitutes and members of the drug cartels they were supposed to be investigating in Colombia.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee promised investigation and retribution, soon finding that the parties occurred by the dozen over the course of several years — all on the taxpayers' dime, of course.

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On Tuesday night, the House authorized financial penalties for the profligate agency, cutting $43 million from DEA employee salaries. Of that total, $20 million in cuts will only be withheld until the DEA implements policy changes to address its employee misconduct issues. The other $23 million will be diverted to funding investigations and supporting the victims of sexual abuse, as well as purchasing police body cameras.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.