mr. chairman , i thank the gentleman from north carolina for yielding . 
let me say that this amendment has a direct impact on the war against terrorism . 
when he was testifying on the reauthorization of the patriot act , deputy attorney general james kolbe testified that the first material support for a terrorism case to be tried before a jury involved a group of hezbollah operatives who had been operating a massive interstate cigarette smuggling scheme . 
he also testified that since that prosecution , material support charges have been used against other cigarette smuggling plots in detroit . 
from this information , it is obvious that the terrorists are using cigarette smuggling in order to help finance their activities , and that is why the amendment offered by the gentleman from north carolina is a good amendment . 
it fits in with the antiterrorism tools that the patriot act reauthorizes , and i would urge its support . 
i would also say that as a result of the modification that the gentleman from north carolina has proposed , there is no longer a question of tribal sovereignty . 
that has been taken care of in the modification . 
so anybody who has read the `` dear colleague '' letter that was sent out earlier today , that is now out of date , and it is about as accurate as last year 's calendar . 
