[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 88 (Wednesday, May 24, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H2579-H2587]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HALT ALL LETHAL TRAFFICKING OF FENTANYL ACT
General Leave
Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on the
legislation and to insert extraneous material on H.R. 467.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Moran). Is there objection to the
request of the gentleman from Kentucky?
There was no objection.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 429 and rule
XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House
on the state of the Union for the consideration of the bill, H.R. 467.
The Chair appoints the gentlewoman from Georgia (Ms. Greene) to
preside over the Committee of the Whole.
{time} 1734
In the Committee of the Whole
Accordingly, the House resolved itself into the Committee of the
Whole House on the state of the Union for the consideration of the bill
(H.R. 467) to amend the Controlled Substances Act with respect to the
scheduling of fentanyl-related substances, and for other purposes, with
Ms. Greene of Georgia in the chair.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The CHAIR. Pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered read the
first time.
General debate shall be confined to the bill and amendments specified
in the first section of House Resolution 429 and shall not exceed 1
hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority
member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce or their respective
designees.
The gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Guthrie) and the gentleman from New
[[Page H2580]]
Jersey (Mr. Pallone) each will control 30 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Kentucky.
Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Chair, action is needed now to address the fentanyl crisis.
That is why I rise today in strong support of H.R. 467, the HALT
Fentanyl Act.
Fentanyl is the top cause of death for Americans 18 to 49 years old.
In my home State of Kentucky, illicit fentanyl overdoses represented 70
percent of all overdoses in 2020 and 2021.
The fentanyl crisis is one of the foremost problems that the American
public faces and has been made worse by the crisis at our southern
border. Illicit fentanyl is turning virtually every community into a
border community with these poisons flooding streets across America and
taking innocent lives, including the lives of our kids.
The HALT Fentanyl Act would ban all fentanyl analogues and strip the
drug cartels and other criminals of the incentive to create new
versions of fentanyl to skirt around the law. This bill is a key step
to help get these poisons off our streets and give law enforcement the
tools they need to crack down on illicit fentanyl trafficking.
A two-pronged approach to addressing this crisis is needed. We must
have a law enforcement and a substance use recovery strategy to address
this crisis. That is why I look forward to examining the SUPPORT for
Patients and Communities Act later this year to continue providing
access to treatment and recovery support services that so many
individuals rely on throughout the country.
To those who oppose this legislation on the grounds it could lead to
mass incarceration, the emergency classwide scheduling implemented by
President Trump did not lead to mass incarcerations. In a Government
Accountability Office study from 2021, the GAO found that there were
only eight prosecutions--yes, eight prosecutions--during the period in
which the Trump administration temporarily scheduled fentanyl-related
substances as schedule I drugs from 2018-2020, with four of them being
individuals working on behalf of the cartel because the cartels quit
creating illicit fentanyl separate from the fentanyl that is poisoning
our kids today.
It could be even worse. I know there are also those who believe the
emergency scheduling order didn't lead to reductions in overdose deaths
and that this bill before us won't effectively address the issues we
are facing.
To both of those criticisms, this bill stops these analogues from
being produced in the first place. Right after the classwide ban was
put in place, the number of fentanyl analogue encounters dropped nearly
89 percent, more than 6,200 fewer reports of analogues. DEA officials
stated that the classwide scheduling contributed to this dramatic drop.
It also includes provisions to facilitate more research into the
detection of fentanyl-related substances and potential treatment of
fentanyl poisonings, something that has much more red tape in the
status quo.
I am happy to see the White House supports two main provisions of the
HALT Fentanyl Act. The HALT Fentanyl Act is one step of many this body
needs to take to address the end of the overdose crisis. The time to
permanently act is now, and I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on
H.R. 467.
Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Chair, I rise in opposition to H.R. 467. I have deep concerns
with the partisan approach my Republican colleagues have taken on this
bill and the harmful implications it would have on our communities if
adopted.
The substance-use and overdose crisis impacts all our communities,
and the American people deserve bipartisan solutions that address both
public safety and public health. This bill fails on both fronts and
simply continues the status quo, allowing opioid use disorder and the
overdose crisis to continue to devastate American families across the
Nation.
In 2018, the Drug Enforcement Administration first issued a temporary
classwide scheduling order of fentanyl-related substances under
schedule I, the strictest classification for drugs. Congress has voted
to extend the temporary order multiple times, most recently in the
Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023.
Despite this action over the last 4 years, overdoses have not gone
down, and we have, unfortunately, not made a dent in the incidence of
opioid use disorders. Fentanyl and synthetic opioids continue to flood
into the country. In testimony before our committee, the DEA
administrator noted the DEA seized more than 50 million fake pills and
10,000 pounds of fentanyl in 2022.
In other words, the HALT Fentanyl Act is a partisan distraction from
the hard, bipartisan work that actually has to be done to address a
longstanding, intractable problem that faces our communities.
We lost over 100,000 people in 2022 to overdoses. This is one of the
biggest public health crises our Nation has ever faced, and now is not
the time for a partisan approach. Now is the time for comprehensive
bipartisan work.
Democrats stand ready to work with Republicans on addressing the
fentanyl crisis. We stand ready to work on permanent scheduling, so
long as it is carefully designed to avoid exacerbating inequities in
our criminal justice system.
In committee, Democrats offered amendments to improve the HALT
Fentanyl Act. We asked that Republicans consider additions to the bill
that reflect the Biden administration's commonsense interagency
proposal. The proposal would permanently schedule FRS but establish a
set of guardrails that promote a scientific and equitable approach. The
administration's proposal is reflected in bipartisan legislation that
was introduced by Representatives Pappas, Gonzales, and Newhouse and
includes an off-ramp to allow for expedited descheduling of FRS that
are found to be either inert or have medical applications. There is
already evidence that at least one FRS could have potential
applications for reversing overdoses, similar to naloxone, and we must
provide for such substances to be rapidly descheduled.
The Biden administration's proposal also strikes the right balance on
public safety by ensuring that permanent scheduling of FRS does not
exacerbate existing inequities in our criminal justice system. It
eliminates mandatory minimum standards involving FRS unless an offense
results in serious bodily injury or death. Instead, the Republican
majority has opted to continue failed punitive mandatory minimum
sentencing that we know will disproportionately impact communities of
color while doing nothing to address the underlying opioid crisis.
Now, as this bill comes to the House floor, Republicans are
continuing to refuse to make this legislation better. Almost 90
amendments were filed for consideration on this bill, and Republicans
ruled nearly all of them out of order, including the bipartisan Pappas
amendment. An amendment from Representative Pettersen of Colorado would
have provided the off-ramp for rapid descheduling of FRS that are inert
or have medical applications. An amendment offered by Representative
Crockett of Texas would have ensured that Federal law does not stand in
the way of the use of fentanyl test strips which have proven to reduce
overdoses from fentanyl and FRS. Unfortunately, Republicans refused to
make any of these commonsense amendments in order, despite the fact
that they are clearly germane.
We simply cannot incarcerate our way out of a public health crisis.
The HALT Fentanyl Act does not provide any resources for research,
prevention, treatment, recovery, or harm reduction. It also does not
provide law enforcement or public health agencies with any additional
resources to detect and intercept illicit drugs entering the country.
In fact, nearly every House Republican voted in favor of the default
on America act, which would inflict devastating cuts that would force
communities to lay off thousands of law enforcement officers and first
responders, and that is in addition to the significant cuts the default
on America act would make to substance use programs that help treat
patients in our communities.
The reality is that this bill, paired with Republican efforts to
slash vital public health and safety funding, will
[[Page H2581]]
leave our communities worse off and exacerbate existing inequities in
our criminal justice system.
Madam Chair, I can't support the underlying bill in its current form.
I encourage my colleagues to oppose it. I hope that at some point we
can get back to doing some bipartisan work that will really make a
difference in terms of this opioid and fentanyl crisis.
Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
{time} 1745
Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Chair, this was a bipartisan bill. It got
bipartisan votes in committee. It is the DEA's number one priority.
If you are selling fentanyl to our kids, you deserve to be
incarcerated. We don't apologize for that.
Madam Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Washington
State (Mrs. Rodgers), the chairwoman of the House Energy and Commerce
Committee.
Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Chair, to save lives and make our
community safer, I rise in support of the HALT Fentanyl Act.
Illicit fentanyl is one of the greatest threats that we face as a
nation. Illicit drug manufacturers are diverting precursor chemicals
from some of China's 160,000 chemical plants and shipping them to
Mexico, where cartels are producing mass quantities of illicit fentanyl
and fentanyl-related substances. These are being smuggled across our
southern border and killing more people than ever.
According to an analysis by The Washington Post, fentanyl poisoning
is the number one cause of death for people 18 to 49.
I think about my friend Molly Cain from Spokane, who lost her son
Carson, and Deb and Ray Cullen from Pennsylvania, who lost their son
Zach. Both Carson and Zach were killed instantly by substances laced
with illicit fentanyl.
Molly asked me how many more letters from grieving parents is it
going to take for action.
The fact is it shouldn't take another letter, another day. It
shouldn't take another lost loved one.
The HALT Fentanyl Act will save lives.
We must make sure that law enforcement has the permanent tools that
they need to seize these extremely lethal poisons. It is DEA's number
one priority. Without these tools, drug traffickers being sourced from
China will be emboldened to push deadlier and deadlier drugs across the
border. We can't let that happen.
Let's come together today for a more secure future for every
community in America.
Madam Chair, I urge support of the HALT Fentanyl Act.
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Chair, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from
Delaware (Ms. Blunt Rochester), a member of the Committee on Energy and
Commerce.
Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER. Madam Chair, I thank Ranking Member Pallone for
yielding me time.
Madam Chair, today, I rise to talk about a public health emergency
impacting every corner of our Nation: fentanyl.
As Congress debates the best approach to combating synthetic opioids,
what we can all agree on is that every single one of us is impacted. I
urge my colleagues to keep our focus on comprehensive and sustainable
solutions.
In 2021, in my small State of Delaware, we lost over 500 family
members, friends, coworkers, and neighbors to overdoses. Of the more
than 500 Delawareans lost to overdose, 80 percent involved fentanyl.
Those numbers, unfortunately, are poised to get worse.
As the former deputy secretary of health and social services in
Delaware, my career has made me look at these challenges through a lens
of public health. That is why I was proud to join my colleagues
Representative Annie Kuster and Don Bacon in introducing the STOP
Fentanyl Overdoses Act.
Our bipartisan bill takes a comprehensive public health approach to
reducing fentanyl overdoses by expanding testing, improving data
collection and analysis, and expanding treatment for opioid use
disorder.
Our approach is supported by a broad and diverse coalition, including
the Drug Policy Alliance, American Psychological Association Services,
and Partnership to End Addiction.
As we continue to work to combat the fentanyl crisis, an issue that I
know we all care deeply about, I hope we will keep a comprehensive
public health approach top of mind.
Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Chair, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
Virginia (Mr. Griffith), the bill's sponsor.
Mr. GRIFFITH. Madam Chair, everyone in this body knows someone who
has been affected by the drug overdose epidemic.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2022,
there were more than 107,000 overdose deaths in the U.S. Sixty-seven
percent of those deaths involved synthetic opioids like fentanyl.
Right now, fentanyl analogues are considered schedule I substances,
but only because of a series of scheduling orders that expire on
December 31, 2024. Since we put that temporary order into place, we
have seen a reduction in the trafficking of fentanyl analogues into our
country.
According to a 2021 GAO report, fentanyl analogues coming into the
U.S. dropped by 90 percent in the year that we did the temporary
scheduling. This bill aims to curb overdose deaths by permanently
scheduling fentanyl analogues as schedule I substances. This will
strengthen law enforcement's ability to prosecute fentanyl traffickers
and act as a deterrent.
The HALT Fentanyl Act also promotes research--this is something new--
by removing barriers to the research.
In the Energy and Commerce Committee, we heard that there are as many
as 4,800 potential analogues. Our experts at NIH, FDA, and other
agencies have studied roughly 30 of the 4,800. By encouraging research
of schedule I substances like fentanyl analogues, we can better
understand how these substances work and how we may prevent potential
harmful impacts in the future.
Because fentanyl itself has a proven medical use, it is considered a
schedule II narcotic, but illicit derivatives of fentanyl, also called
fentanyl analogues, currently have not demonstrated medical value.
Let me be clear. This bill will have no impact whatsoever on a
physician's ability to administer fentanyl in proper medical scenarios.
The HALT Fentanyl Act deals specifically with fentanyl analogues, not
fentanyl itself.
The DEA has said that permanently scheduling fentanyl analogues is
their top legislative priority. We must not allow this temporary
extension to expire.
On Monday, the Biden administration released a positive statement
regarding the bill. In the statement, they supported the provisions I
just described: permanent scheduling and streamlined research.
The Biden administration did recommend a few other items they would
like to see related to fentanyl analogues. I am open and willing to
have those discussions, but that is not this bill.
Madam Chair, we should vote to advance this bill that we agree on and
that does help stop the bad guys, particularly those bringing these
substances over the border.
Once fentanyl analogues are permanently made schedule I, Congress
will continue to build off this work and continue to address the
illicit fentanyl crisis.
These large numbers that we have seen on fentanyl deaths and fentanyl
analogues are because of these drugs coming across the border. They are
100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than
heroin. Why would we not take every step possible that we can to stop
it?
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Chair, I know the Republicans have a number of
speakers, so I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Ohio (Mr. Latta).
Mr. LATTA. Madam Chair, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Madam Chair, for over 2 years, I have worked with my colleague from
Virginia's Ninth District to pass the HALT Fentanyl Act. During this
time, our country has reeled from a record-breaking number of
poisonings. In both 2021 and 2022, over 100,000 Americans died of an
overdose.
What was the main culprit? Fentanyl-related substances.
In 2021, 77 percent of teen overdose deaths were attributed to an
illicit
[[Page H2582]]
fentanyl poisoning, and it is now the number one cause of deaths among
adults 18 to 49.
This crisis has simply spiraled out of control, and action must be
taken immediately. That is why our bill, the HALT Fentanyl Act, comes
into play.
Right now, these fentanyl substances are temporarily set as a
schedule I narcotic. If this class-wide scheduling were to expire, drug
traffickers will be given the green light to push deadlier drugs; law
enforcement will lose authority to seize these deadly narcotics; and
Americans will continue to die.
I am pleased the House is taking up this bill to permanently place
fentanyl-related substances as a schedule I narcotic.
Let me take a moment to clear up a misconception about this bill.
This isn't about criminal justice reform. This is about justice for the
victims of fentanyl poisoning. Cartels are killing our citizens for 10
cents. Let me repeat that: Cartels are killing our citizens for 10
cents. That is how much it costs to make a pill in Mexico that is
fentanyl-laced.
This is the DEA's number one priority. We owe it to our constituents
to fix this permanently.
Currently, to trigger a 10-year mandatory minimum, an offense must
involve 100 grams or more of a mixture containing a fentanyl analogue.
Because the average lethal dose of fentanyl is just 2 milligrams, the
offense would need to contain roughly 50,000 lethal doses. Again, that
is 50,000 human beings that would be murdered from fentanyl poisoning.
Madam Chair, I strongly encourage my colleagues on both sides of the
aisle to support the HALT Fentanyl Act to help end this crisis and save
innocent lives.
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Chair, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from
Pennsylvania (Ms. Lee).
Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania. Madam Chair, I stand today in solidarity
with the millions of Black and Brown folks who have been locked up over
the failed war on drugs.
I stand before you today some 50 years from the war on drugs and 39
years after President Reagan signed the Comprehensive Crime Control Act
of 1984, which expanded penalties on weed possession, established
mandatory minimums, and created civil asset forfeiture--50 years since
establishing drug policies that systematically led to the mass
incarceration of generations of Black men.
But somehow, this war on drugs will be different.
We don't always know the consequences of a bill like this, but with
the HALT Fentanyl Act, we all know.
We have to listen to our experts: our public health, criminal
justice, and civil rights organizations. They are on the ground doing
the work in our communities, and 158 of them just told us that, no, the
HALT Fentanyl Act will not help the American people, as this bill
claims it would. It will only cause harm, especially to Black, Brown,
and low-income Americans.
We really didn't need the experts on this one. We have had decades to
observe the effects of policies just like this.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting
different results. The HALT Fentanyl Act will do exactly what it was
designed to do if we allow it to pass.
We have seen 50 years of a terrifying merry-go-round: the economy
struggles, housing becomes less stable, and a tough-on-crime approach
is promoted as the solution. Lock up those most impacted, our siblings
and neighbors struggling with addiction. Lock them up.
Who is winning? Not the 350,000 folks currently serving time for drug
offenses, not the families that have been torn apart by mass
incarceration. Imagine the loss of generational wealth.
Communities have been left without parents, grandparents, neighbors,
leaders, and friends. Families are mourning tens of thousands that have
died every year from drug overdoses.
Policies like this one do not lead to healing. They do not lead to
safety. They do not lead to justice, and we do deserve justice.
We know there is a correlation between poverty and crime, not race
and crime. We do not need tough-on-crime policies. We need to be tough
on inequality, but for true, systemic change, we have to be willing to
consider different roads. We have to be willing to consider community-
based, trauma-informed, and harm-reducing policies. We must resist the
urge to hearken back to tough-on-crime rhetoric.
Tough on crime is merely tough on community. We can do better, and we
must do better than the HALT Fentanyl Act.
Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. Bilirakis).
Mr. BILIRAKIS. Madam Chair, I thank the chairman of the Health
Subcommittee for his leadership and for yielding me time.
Madam Chair, I rise today in support of the HALT Fentanyl Act. The
American people are in the midst of a staggering illicit fentanyl
crisis. Our kids are dying, Madam Chair. We need to do everything we
possibly can to help these kids.
Sadly, we read daily headlines, Madam Chair, of adults, teens, and
even toddlers who have died from fentanyl poisoning.
My colleagues across the aisle, they kicked the can down the road.
They have kicked it down the road too long, Madam Chair, and look at
the consequences as fentanyl-related substances still remain only
temporarily scheduled. The time is now to make it permanent.
Today, we take an overdue step in the right direction, and as a proud
advocate for individuals suffering with substance use disorder, I know
this is just one step. Much more needs to be done, and I am thankful
the gentleman has brought this bill to the floor.
Sadly, we continue to see a huge influx of fentanyl-related
substances into the country from across the Mexican border, from
cartels using chemicals imported from China and India.
{time} 1800
I am disheartened to see communities across my State of Florida and
across the Nation bearing the ramifications of these criminal actors
and our open-border policies. We must secure the border.
This is a nonpartisan issue, in my opinion, and we must come together
to address the opioid crisis. We are at war with these cartels, Madam
Chair.
I would like to see my Democratic colleagues heed the Biden
administration's public support of these critical measures. Just this
Monday, they issued their support for the policies in this bill, urging
Congress to pass these measures to address public safety and save
lives.
I say to my colleagues across the aisle: Work with us on this and on
other meaningful policy solutions to combat fentanyl in our Nation.
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Chair, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from
California (Ms. Kamlager-Dove).
Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE. Madam Chair, I rise today to strongly oppose the
Republicans' HALT Fentanyl Act. Republicans want to ban American
history so that they can repeat the bad parts.
Did we learn nothing from the war on drugs?
I guess not. Real talk was a huge failure. Back then we enacted
ineffective and punitive laws that only worked to expand mass
incarceration, mostly of Black and Brown folks.
This legislation will enact ineffective and punitive drug laws that
only work to expand mass incarceration.
Who will suffer?
Mostly Black and Brown folks. The data shows that all races are
facing challenges with fentanyl.
This legislation would put us on a dangerous path toward unjust and
disproportionate mandatory minimums for the possession of all fentanyl-
related substances.
News flash: Research is still needed on possible and legal
pharmacological use of these substances. Fentanyl is still being
prescribed legally and used in controlled settings by medical doctors.
That is right. Republicans don't like science.
In its current form, this bill allows for no flexibility, and won't
address the root issue. This bill is shortsighted because some of these
substances could still be key to developing treatment for fentanyl
overdoses.
Instead of learning about how we can save people from fentanyl, we
want to criminalize all of the fentanyl-related substances.
[[Page H2583]]
Madam Chair, 97 percent of the illicit fentanyl seized at the border
is seized at legal ports of entry. The majority of those convicted are
U.S. citizens. The draconian mandatory minimums proposed under this
plan don't address these issues.
In fact, this bill doesn't do anything smart. It doesn't address the
humanitarian crisis we are facing at our southern border. It doesn't
address the epidemic of substance abuse, and it certainly won't improve
our public safety.
The majority of people who are dying from fentanyl are dying because
they are taking it illegally. They are buying and searching for illicit
drugs. It is not about prosecution. It is about drug use. The issue is
substance abuse. That is what we should be addressing.
If you are going to propose some legislation, make it make sense.
Make it address root issues and focus on the causes rather than
continuing to scapegoat the same people that you have scapegoated for
years and years to no end.
Madam Chair, I urge a ``no'' vote.
Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Chair, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman
from Indiana (Mr. Bucshon), the vice chair of the Health Subcommittee.
Mr. BUCSHON. Madam Chair, I point out that this is fentanyl
poisoning, and just because people use illicit drugs, they certainly
don't deserve to die from it.
Madam Chair, I rise in strong support of the HALT Fentanyl Act. In
2022, roughly 75,000 Americans died from poisoning by synthetic
opioids, largely illicit fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances.
Illicit fentanyl poisonings are now the number one cause of death
among adults ages 18 to 49, as has been pointed out many times.
People who have died from illicit fentanyl poisoning are not just
statistics. They are someone's child, sibling, parent, family member,
or close friend. It is happening in every community across America. It
doesn't discriminate against socioeconomic class, race, or religion.
Just last week, a Federal grand jury indicted a man in Evansville,
Indiana, my hometown, for selling counterfeit prescription pills laced
with fentanyl over social media that caused at least three poisonings
and the death of a 19-year-old woman in 2022.
Last fall, a Federal grand jury indicted another man in Evansville
who sold fentanyl pills in 2021 that ended up killing a 3-year-old
toddler and resulted in nonfatal poisonings of two other children in a
home after they found illicit fentanyl pills in a nightstand and took
them.
These are heartbreaking stories, and we in this body have the power
to do something to help prevent more of them from occurring.
Let's pass the HALT Fentanyl Act and give hope to Americans whose
family, friends, and loved ones, who have been impacted by illicit
fentanyl poisonings, that their loved one's death was not in vain.
Support this bill.
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from
Georgia (Mr. Carter).
Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Madam Chair, I thank the gentleman for
yielding.
Madam Chair, I rise today in strong support of the HALT Fentanyl Act,
which would permanently schedule fentanyl analogues as schedule I.
Madam Chair, the United States is facing a poisoning epidemic. It is
caused by illicit fentanyl and its related substances that are pouring
over our southern border. Almost 200 people are dying every day
from fentanyl poisoning--200.
Included in that number is a family from my district who lost their
son, Wesley, to the drug at the age of 22 years. His mother writes:
``My son was a victim of drug-induced homicide. He took one pill that
ended up being pure fentanyl and died. He was poisoned because he
trusted the wrong person and paid for it with his life.''
We cannot allow the lawlessness and tragedy to continue to tear our
communities apart. That is why we must pass the HALT Fentanyl Act that
is before us today.
Opponents of this legislation are choosing to side with criminals
over the safety and well-being of our children. That is despicable.
Madam Chair, let's pass this bill, secure the border, stem the tide
of the growing fentanyl crisis, and save lives.
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Chair, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New
Jersey (Mr. Payne).
Mr. PAYNE. Madam Chair, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey for
yielding to me.
Madam Chair, I will follow up with the last two colleagues of mine,
the gentlewoman from California and the previous speaker.
We cannot have what happened in the 1980s and 1990s of the
scapegoating of communities with the heinous drug epidemic.
It is interesting that now that fentanyl is impacting certain
communities, it is now a health issue. In the 1980s and 1990s when
there was a crack epidemic in urban communities, Nancy Reagan told us:
``Just say no.'' But here we are now, in this day and age, and now it
is a major issue. Why?
Because it is impacting other communities that people tend to care
more about--their communities. What we are seeing now in minority
communities was going on 20 years ago and we were screaming: Please,
help. Please, let's stop this scourge.
What we did was say: No, those people that are abusing those drugs
are criminals. Let's lock them up--mass incarceration.
Now, in this day and age with fentanyl, it is a health issue when the
same thing was happening then is happening now. I don't know how one is
a criminal act and now we need to have compassion. We do because this
country is suffering. Our young people are dying. It is just unreal the
scourge that this drug is.
We have to remember that fentanyl is such a powerful opioid. It is 50
to 100 times more potent than morphine. Two milligrams, or the size of
five grains of salt, can cause a possible overdose. We need to do
something. Our young people are screaming out. They are crying. They
are dying.
We cannot blame it all on the southern border. Time and time again,
we have data that shows that 90 percent of the fentanyl is coming
through ports of entry by American citizens. We need to address that.
We need to talk about it.
The CHAIR. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Chair, I yield an additional 1 minute to the
gentleman from New Jersey.
Mr. PAYNE. Madam Chair, the HALT Fentanyl Act is not the way to go,
but we need to come together and do something as this plague is ruining
our future.
I have seen it in my community. Others have seen it now in their
communities. We must come together with reasonable legislation. This is
just another possible situation that starts mass incarceration once
again. I know I don't want to see in your community what that did to
mine over the past 20 years.
Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Chair, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman
from Florida (Mr. Dunn).
Mr. DUNN of Florida. Madam Chair, I rise today to express my support
for H.R. 467, the HALT Fentanyl Act.
This legislation will place all fentanyl-related substances, as a
class, into schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act.
The Energy and Commerce Committee has taken an important step toward
solving our fentanyl crisis. I am proud to have supported this bill
since the 117th Congress.
We have heard from Molly Cain, the Cullens, and countless others who
courageously told their stories of how their children were murdered by
fentanyl. Make no mistake: Fentanyl is a poison in our communities.
Every pill, every toke, every line of cocaine is like playing a game of
Russian roulette every single time.
This crisis is happening at the hands of bad actors such as the
Chinese Communist Party and the drug cartels. China remains the primary
source of illicit fentanyl and its precursors that are trafficked
internationally and through our porous southern border.
In fiscal year 2023, Customs and Border Patrol has seized over 17,000
pounds of fentanyl, enough to kill 11 times the entire population of
the United States.
The HALT Fentanyl Act is an important step in the right direction,
and we must permanently schedule these substances.
[[Page H2584]]
Let's call it what it is: a weapon of mass destruction. Our law
enforcement officers fight heroically every day to combat this
epidemic, and it is imperative that we protect them.
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Chair, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from
New Hampshire (Ms. Kuster), a member of the Energy and Commerce
Committee.
Ms. KUSTER. Madam Chair, I rise today to speak in opposition to H.R.
467, the HALT Fentanyl Act.
The fentanyl crisis has touched every community across our State and
country. We need to take serious, bipartisan action to address this
epidemic and save lives.
Unfortunately, the legislation on the floor tonight misses the mark.
The HALT Fentanyl Act does not address how these dangerous drugs
enter our country, nor does it include any measures to address the
underlying demand driving the substance use crisis.
This bill simply preserves the status quo by continuing to schedule
fentanyl-related substances as schedule I, which has been the case
since 2018, and under current law, will be the case until December of
2024.
Scheduling alone will not change the overdose crisis. We need to
broaden our scope.
Madam Chair, I urge this body to instead consider a public health
approach to address this crisis. I am leading with Lisa Blunt Rochester
and Don Bacon, a bipartisan, alternative bill that would address both
the supply of and demand for illicit fentanyl in this country.
{time} 1815
Our bill, the STOP Fentanyl Overdoses Act, will enhance fentanyl
surveillance through investments in technology, dedicate resources to
strengthen law enforcement response, and improve data collection of
seized drugs.
The bill will also help reduce the demand for illicit drugs by
expanding access to recovery resources, protecting people who
administer opioid reversal drugs, and supporting education on the harm
of drug misuse.
The STOP Fentanyl Overdoses Act is an alternative to the scheduling-
only approach on the floor. An issue this complex requires an equally
comprehensive solution.
Fentanyl doesn't care about our politics and neither should our
approach to addressing the overdose crisis.
Madam Chair, I urge my colleagues to consider my alternative,
bipartisan solution.
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from
Arizona (Mrs. Lesko).
Mrs. LESKO. Madam Chair, our Nation is facing a tragic fentanyl
crisis. Our kids are dying. Our neighbors are dying. During the last 2
years, if I may remind my Democratic colleagues, they were in charge.
They were in charge of the House, they had control of the Senate, they
had control of the Presidency, and they did nothing to stop this
fentanyl crisis.
Late last year, I visited the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's
Office in Phoenix, Arizona. It is truly revealing. It is one of the
busiest medical examiner offices in the Nation. In Maricopa County last
year, fentanyl and its analogues were involved in 60 percent of all the
drug-related deaths. Once more, there are record amounts of fentanyl
coming across our southern border into our Arizona communities.
Did you know that last Thursday, officers at the Arizona Nogales Port
of Entry seized over 207,000 fentanyl pills and over 16 pounds of
fentanyl powder just in 1 day. With border officials only able to seize
5 to 10 percent of all illegal drugs, these numbers are truly
terrifying. House Republicans are taking action. We are the ones
introducing this bill. We are the ones getting something done. We are
introducing the HALT Fentanyl Act.
Madam Chair, I urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation,
to stop this deadly drug crisis and save lives.
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Chair, I don't like to disagree with my colleague from Arizona
who I respect, but she did say that when the Democrats were in the
majority that we didn't address the issue, and that is not accurate.
In fact, last Congress we did pass out of the Energy and Commerce
Committee a bipartisan mental health and substance use treatment
package, H.R. 7666, which became law as part of the consolidated
appropriations bill last December, and that bill, H.R. 7666, that came
out of our committee, when it came to the floor of the House, was
supported by over 400 Members. Only 20 Members didn't vote for it, and
it was later signed into law as part of the Consolidated Appropriations
Act. That new law includes the MAD Act and the MAiD Act, historic
pieces of legislation that ensure medical practitioners are prepared to
identify and treat substance use disorders and increase access to
medication-assisted treatment, such as buprenorphine.
H.R. 7666 also reauthorized billions of dollars in public health
programs that addressed the mental health and substance use crisis,
including both the substance use prevention treatment and recovery
services block grant and State opioid response grants.
Now, I am not suggesting that this is the end all. Obviously, more
needs to be done, but part of what I think you are hearing from the
Democratic side of the aisle today is that this legislation on the
floor doesn't really deal with all these things. It doesn't deal with
treatment. It doesn't deal with the border. It doesn't deal with law
enforcement and more resources to address the fentanyl crisis.
We believe that a law that is going to really make a difference would
do that, and that is the reason that we are saying that this bill that
is before us, the HALT Fentanyl Act, really doesn't do anything because
it just says that it is going to be in schedule I beyond 2024.
Right now, you already have synthetic fentanyl scheduled in I until
the end of next year, and we haven't really seen any progress with
that.
We would like to see a comprehensive approach that takes into account
treatment that is a follow up on what we passed in the last Congress.
Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Chair, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman
from Pennsylvania (Mr. Joyce).
Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Madam Chair, I thank the gentleman for
yielding.
Madam Chair, 6 months ago I received an email from Ray Cullen, a
resident of Franklin County, Pennsylvania, who, along with his wife,
Deb, had raised their kids in my district, Pennsylvania's 13th
Congressional District.
Ray told the story of his son, Zach, who last year was out with a
bunch of buddies when he was sold cocaine that was laced with fentanyl,
unfortunately, a deadly poison that claimed Zach's life. Zach didn't
know that the drugs that he and his friends had purchased were laced
with this deadly synthetic opioid.
Because of how lethal the drug is in small quantities, fentanyl has
become the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18
and 49. It was Franklin County Coroner Jeff Conner who put it so
bluntly to me. He said: ``Fentanyl is easy to get and it is fast to
kill.''
The Cullens reached out to share the memory of their son because they
wanted to make a difference. They wanted to make sure that the pain
that they were feeling was not shared by parents anywhere else in
Pennsylvania or anywhere else in our country.
Now, on the eve of the HALT Fentanyl Act vote, we in Congress have a
chance to help prevent these needless deaths by passing the HALT
Fentanyl Act, legislation to finally classify these deadly fentanyl
substances as schedule I narcotics.
Deb and Ray Cullen have traveled and presented their case before the
Energy and Commerce Subcommittee of Health. Deb and Ray Cullen will be
here tomorrow. They will be in the gallery as we have a choice to make
to vote in a bipartisan fashion to halt fentanyl and its deadly cause
here in the United States.
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from
California, Mr. Mike Garcia.
Mr. MIKE GARCIA of California. Madam Chair, for too long, a lack of
national leadership has forced law enforcement into navigating this
[[Page H2585]]
fentanyl crisis without the proper tools or a defined mission. The HALT
Fentanyl Act would provide both the tools and the mission by
permanently classifying fentanyl analogues as schedule I narcotics.
This bill, which I have long supported, will mitigate this crisis by
empowering police to use every tool available to get the traffickers of
poison off the streets and put them in jail.
Sell fentanyl, go to jail. Poison kids, go to jail. If you don't want
to go to jail, don't sell fentanyl and don't poison our kids.
Right now we are failing as a Nation. We are failing to recognize the
severity of this crisis, failing to hold China and dealers accountable
for their role, and we are failing to protect the people who most need
it, our children.
We have lost young Americans with bright futures like Daniel Puerta
from my district who was a year away from graduating when he was
poisoned by a counterfeit pill sold over Snapchat. For Daniel's memory
and the memory of countless others, we must act.
Madam Chair, I urge support of this bill. One last thing, 30 times
the number of people who died on 9/11 last year died of fentanyl
poisoning.
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from
Iowa (Mrs. Miller-Meeks).
Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS. Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for yielding
time.
Madam Chair, I rise today in support of HALT Fentanyl Act introduced
by my friends and colleagues, Morgan Griffith and Bob Latta.
The fentanyl crisis is ravaging our Nation, and there is no question
this dangerous drug and its analogues should be scheduled. Fentanyl
accounts for roughly 150 overdose deaths per day, and the number of
deaths caused by fentanyl and other synthetic opioids is growing
exponentially each year.
The HALT Fentanyl Act would permanently schedule fentanyl-related
substances and provide law enforcement with the tools needed to keep
these lethal drugs off our streets.
Should the temporary classwide scheduling expire, drug traffickers
would be empowered to ramp up their operations without fear or
repercussions. At our border, U.S. Customs and Border Protection would
lose the authority to seize these substances, and the amount of drugs
coming into our country would skyrocket.
It is hard to imagine the border crisis becoming worse than it
already is, but should this scheduling expire, I am afraid the crisis
would escalate even further.
As a physician and the former director of the Iowa Department of
Public Health under whose purview substance use disorder and drug
addiction failed, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle neglect
to acknowledge a vast majority of people affected by this are not drug
addicts. One pill can kill.
Furthermore, news flash: This bill doesn't hamper any legal medical
use of fentanyl. Fentanyl is not only more deadly than cocaine or
morphine or heroin, it is significantly easier to produce and can be
sold for 100 times more than it costs to make. Bad actors will always
take advantage of bad situations, and this is no exception.
Madam Chair, I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this bill to
protect our most vulnerable populations and keep fentanyl and its
analogues off the street.
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Chair, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from
New York (Mr. D'Esposito).
Mr. D'ESPOSITO. Madam Chair, I rise today in support of H.R. 467, the
HALT Fentanyl Act of which I am proud to cosponsor. I also find it
baffling, Madam Chair, that speakers from the other side say that this
does nothing when, in fact, we are working to correct the wrongs of the
procriminal, open-border agenda that Democrats have passed throughout
this country.
There is not one community across this Nation that has been immune to
the devastating effects of fentanyl. As an NYPD detective, I have
witnessed far too many Americans destroyed due to opioid addictions
stemming from this horrific narcotic, and Congress must act swiftly to
combat the fentanyl epidemic.
Madam Chair, I urge all my colleagues to support the HALT Act in
order to make permanent classwide scheduling order for fentanyl-related
substances, which is the key to preventing unneeded deaths related to
fentanyl.
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from
Georgia (Mr. Allen).
Mr. ALLEN. Madam Chair, I rise today in support of H.R. 467, the HALT
Fentanyl Act. I am a proud original cosponsor of this commonsense
legislation that would permanently reschedule fentanyl-related
substances as schedule I drugs. Far too often, we are hearing
devastating stories from families across this great country who have
lost loved ones to fentanyl-related deaths, and, in many cases, it is
our young people.
Only a few milligrams of fentanyl can be lethal, which is why it is
now the number one cause of death among adults 18 to 49. Deadly
fentanyl-related substances are being manufactured by China and the
cartels and pouring across our borders into our cities, communities,
and neighborhoods.
We must ensure that our law enforcement and Border Patrol officers
maintain the authority necessary to seize these drugs. That is why this
body must take action.
The HALT Fentanyl Act would supply law enforcement with the tools
needed to keep this deadly substance off our streets.
Madam Chair, to put it simply: This bill will save lives. I strongly
urge a ``yes'' vote on H.R. 467.
Mr. GUTHRIE. Madam Chair, may I inquire as to the time remaining.
The Acting CHAIR (Mr. D'Esposito). The gentleman from Kentucky has
5\1/2\ minutes remaining. The gentleman from New Jersey has 8 minutes
remaining.
Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman
from Florida (Mrs. Cammack).
Mrs. CAMMACK. Mr. Chairman, today, I rise in strong support of H.R.
467, the HALT Fentanyl Act. To drive home why this bill is so
important, I want to emphasize that currently there is no permanent
scheduling of fentanyl, only a temporary emergency scheduling order.
That means when, not if, but when this temporary order on fentanyl
expires, fentanyl-related substances will become street legal.
Think about this: Over 300 people a day will die today from fentanyl
poisoning, 300 people died yesterday, and 300 people will die tomorrow
of fentanyl poisoning.
{time} 1830
If an airliner carrying 300 people crashed every single day, within
the span of a week we would have declared a national emergency and
would have begun the work on solutions, but we haven't done that here.
If we don't pass this bill, when the emergency class-wide scheduling
order expires, law enforcement will no longer have the authority to
seize these extremely lethal drugs. Yes, you heard me right, they will
no longer have the authority.
As so many of my colleagues have said today, fentanyl is the leading
cause of death for individuals between the ages of 18 and 49,
surpassing COVID, cancer, heart disease, and even car accidents. In
fact, the DEA, Biden's DEA, you-all's DEA, says this is their number
one priority.
Every single one of us knows someone who has been affected by
fentanyl. Every single one of us in this Chamber knows who is
responsible for the fentanyl pouring into our country, and it is every
single one of our jobs to act and pass the HALT Fentanyl Act. Let's put
the politics aside, come together as Americans for our communities, for
this country.
Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes.''
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I just want to correct the record, or at least set the record
straight, on what the DEA and the Biden administration are saying. I
heard what my colleague on the committee said, but I want you to
understand that no one on our side of the aisle, certainly not the
Biden administration or the DEA, is saying that we should get rid of
the current law, which says that synthetic fentanyl is on schedule I.
That is the
[[Page H2586]]
case now. We have extended it many times. As the gentlewoman said, it
is actually extended until December of 2024.
What the Biden administration, in conjunction with the DEA, is saying
is that before you go ahead and permanently extend, that you should
look at some of the other things that we have talked about on the
Democratic side of the aisle. In other words, they say, in this task
force from the administration with the DEA, that there is a real
possibility that research will find that there are synthetic fentanyl
substances that might actually help deal with the crisis and reverse an
overdose in certain circumstances.
What they recommend is that we have an off-ramp to ensure that
substances that are deemed to have a potential medical application are
not improperly classified. If you pass this permanently, then you have
to pass another law in order to take something off the list.
Also, they are not recommending that we have mandatory minimum
incarceration involving synthetic fentanyl unless an offense results in
serious bodily injury or death. This is what some of my colleagues on
the Democratic side are saying, that incarceration, mandatory minimum
sentencing, is not the answer. We know it hasn't been for years with
other drugs, as well.
In addition to that, there should be funding to deal with the
research, funding to deal with treatment, funding for law enforcement
so they can prevent more fentanyl from coming into the country. None of
that is included in this bill.
I just don't want my colleagues on the other side to misrepresent
what DEA or what the Biden administration are saying. We all understand
the nature of this crisis. We don't think that this bill is going to do
anything to change that, because it just basically extends the status
quo and doesn't do anything for all of these other things that have
been mentioned on the Democratic side.
I think it is really important for you to understand where we are
coming from on this. We don't disagree with putting this on schedule I,
but we want to see a comprehensive approach, because what we are doing
now has failed.
Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Chair, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from
Michigan (Mr. Walberg).
Mr. WALBERG. Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of H.R. 467, the HALT
Fentanyl Act.
A recent poll shows just 16 percent of Americans are satisfied with
how things are going in the United States.
Why?
Washington has largely ignored pressing issues in the past 2 years.
While the fentanyl epidemic may not grab headlines in the mainstream
media, it has lost the pulse of mainstream America, few issues are more
important.
Illicit fentanyl poisonings are now the number one cause of death
among Americans aged 18 to 49. Nearly every American knows a friend or
a relative who has struggled or even overdosed. I do.
Despite the crisis, Congress has continued to kick the can down the
road by temporarily extending the class-wide scheduling order. Each
time, law enforcement is left scrambling as we approach the deadline,
which would let many of the fentanyl-related substances become legal.
We must permanently give law enforcement the tools they need to keep
Americans safe. The HALT Fentanyl Act complements other solutions like
the recently passed Secure the Border Act, which will help properly
root out the flow of illicit drugs and limit supply.
Mr. Chair, I urge the bill's passage, which will represent another
step toward restoring the voice of the American people in the House.
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas
(Mr. Pfluger).
Mr. PFLUGER. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of the HALT Fentanyl Act,
which will help end thousands of deaths from this tragic situation.
I am speaking on behalf of parents like Joe Warnick and Donna Johnson
of Odessa, Texas, who lost their son, Jackson, to fentanyl poisoning. I
am speaking up for thousands of families across the United States.
How can you oppose this? Literally, how can you oppose this?
Every day we hear more and more stories of lives ended by fentanyl.
It is our responsibility to act.
The HALT Fentanyl Act will help end the fentanyl crisis by cracking
down on criminals who are trafficking deadly fentanyl across the
southern border and into our communities. It will ensure law
enforcement has the tools they need to keep these extremely lethal and
dangerous drugs off our streets.
The moms and dads that I have talked to are tired of words. They want
action, and the HALT Fentanyl Act is the action that we need to take.
Lives are on the line.
Mr. Chair, I am very proud of my Republican Conference for proposing
this legislation, and I urge my colleagues to support it.
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume to
close.
The point that I have been trying to make and my colleagues have been
trying to make on this side of the aisle is that Republicans continue
to push punitive and partisan policies with regard to the opioid crisis
rather than real solutions to address the substance abuse crisis,
strengthen border security, or fix our immigration system.
The partisan HALT Fentanyl Act would not meaningfully address
substance abuse. It would simply result in more incarceration.
This bill takes a one-sided approach by only requiring permanent
class-wide scheduling of fentanyl-related substances in an attempt to
incarcerate our way out of a public health crisis.
By contrast, the Biden administration has put forth an interagency
proposal, which I have discussed, to permanently schedule synthetic
fentanyl within schedule I without exacerbating existing sentencing
disparities and inequities in our criminal justice system, as well as
creating an off-ramp to remove or reschedule these substances shown to
have medical or therapeutic value.
Now, I know that we hear from the other side: What have you done?
What are you doing?
Well, the bottom line is that the Biden administration has taken
aggressive action to combat the overdose epidemic. Congress and the
administration should be working together on a bipartisan solution to
address the fentanyl crisis, but the Republicans are threatening a
default crisis right now that would seriously undermine these efforts.
Last year, the Biden administration announced its inaugural National
Drug Control Strategy which expands access to lifesaving interventions,
like naloxone and buprenorphine, while providing additional resources
to law enforcement agencies to intercept illegal drugs.
To support this strategy and address illicit fentanyl, President
Biden has called on Congress to make a historic investment of $46
billion in funding for efforts to reduce the supply of illicit fentanyl
and stop drug trafficking, as well as expand access to treatment and
prevention to reduce overdose deaths across the country.
Now, at the same time, Republicans are threatening a default crisis
unless Democrats go along with their drastic cuts that would seriously
undermine our ability to combat the fentanyl and opioid crisis.
According to the administration, the cuts demanded by Republicans
would force Border Patrol to ax more than 2,000 agents and drastically
reduce funding for the DEA and the FBI. These things are crucial to
interdiction and anti-drug-trafficking efforts.
The Republican proposal, the default on America act, would reduce
funding for treatment for opioid use disorders resulting in thousands
more Americans losing access to treatment and recovery. It would also
threaten to take health insurance away from millions of low-income
individuals, including those struggling with substance use disorders
and the opioid epidemic, and it imposes a cruel and unnecessary work
requirement on Medicaid.
Now, all we are trying to say on our side of the aisle is in this war
on drugs, mandatory sentencing, incarcerate everybody, has not worked.
It didn't
[[Page H2587]]
work for other drugs. It is not going to work for fentanyl.
At the same time, the Biden administration has put forward a
proposal, and it has been put into bill form, the STOP Fentanyl Act,
that looks at all of this and tries to increase treatment, tries to
increase interdiction and help law enforcement, and tries to do more
research to see to what extent we can find uses for synthetic fentanyl
that actually will stop, if you will, or prevent overdoses from killing
people.
We are just asking for a comprehensive approach. I haven't heard
anything from the other side of the aisle that says you are going to do
anything more than continue with the current law, which says that we
are going to make synthetic fentanyl part of schedule I, which is
already the law, at least until the end of next year.
All we are saying is, let's sit down and actually try to come up with
something here on a bipartisan basis that is going to make a difference
for this fentanyl crisis. What we have done in the past hasn't worked.
If we are going to just reduce funding for all of these things, that is
certainly not going to work. That is only going to make it worse.
I guess I am just pleading with my colleagues on the other side of
the aisle: Rethink this. We have the time now to come up with a
comprehensive approach that will make a difference here. If you pass
this partisan bill, it is going to go nowhere in the Senate, it is not
going to become law, and we will have accomplished nothing.
Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill, and let's look
for a comprehensive solution along the line of what the President has
proposed.
Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
My friend from New Jersey did say that this law expires at the end of
the year. That is why we are here today to make scheduling illicit
fentanyl permanent.
We have to understand what the status quo is. The status quo
currently is horrific. Before these illicit fentanyls were scheduled,
although we couldn't get them permanently scheduled, there were all
kinds of analogues throughout America. That is why the DEA and
others recommended that we schedule these, because once you change the
fentanyl molecule, unless these are scheduled, then it becomes no
longer illegal. These all appeared in our country, and that is why we
are reacting to it. They are scheduled now, and what we are moving to
do is to make it permanent.
What has happened since they were scheduled?
They came to me, and they talked about mass incarceration. We have
heard that today. There have been eight people in prison under this
law, four dealing with cartels, which I would say absolutely should be
in prison.
I asked some of my law enforcement people when I was looking into
this bill: If you have only arrested eight people, why does it matter?
That is what they are saying on the other side of the aisle.
What they said was the only reason we have only arrested eight people
is because when this was put into place, the analogues--not fentanyl,
but the analogues, which can be more dangerous--had disappeared from
the marketplace. They are bringing in fentanyl that is already
scheduled.
The problem is, if we treat fentanyl analogues differently than
fentanyl, they are going to reappear again. That is why we have to put
them in the same category. If you have fentanyl subject to mandatory
minimums, but not these analogues, then they are going to reappear.
We have to pass this bill, we have to move forward, and I recommend
support of this bill.
Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
{time} 1845
The Acting CHAIR. All time for general debate has expired.
Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise.
The motion was agreed to.
Accordingly, the Committee rose; and the Speaker pro tempore (Mr.
Griffith) having assumed the chair, Mr. D'Esposito, Acting Chair of the
Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, reported that
that Committee, having had under consideration the bill (H.R. 467) to
amend the Controlled Substances Act with respect to the scheduling of
fentanyl-related substances, and for other purposes, had come to no
resolution thereon.
____________________