[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 51 (Thursday, March 23, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1975-S1977]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Mr. CORNYN (for himself and Ms. Klobuchar):
  S. 704. A bill to provide that members of the Armed Forces performing 
services in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt shall be entitled to tax 
benefits in the same manner as if such services were performed in a 
combat zone; to the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of 
the bill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                 S. 704

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Sinai Service Recognition 
     Act''.

     SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS PERFORMING SERVICES 
                   IN THE SINAI PENINSULA OF EGYPT.

       (a) In General.--For purposes of the following provisions 
     of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, a qualified hazardous 
     duty area shall be treated in the same manner as if it were a 
     combat zone (as determined under section 112 of such Code):
       (1) Section 2(a)(3) (relating to special rule where 
     deceased spouse was in missing status).
       (2) Section 112 (relating to the exclusion of certain 
     combat pay of members of the Armed Forces).
       (3) Section 692 (relating to income taxes of members of 
     Armed Forces on death).
       (4) Section 2201 (relating to members of the Armed Forces 
     dying in combat zone or by reason of combat-zone-incurred 
     wounds, etc.).
       (5) Section 3401(a)(1) (defining wages relating to combat 
     pay for members of the Armed Forces).
       (6) Section 4253(d) (relating to the taxation of phone 
     service originating from a combat zone from members of the 
     Armed Forces).
       (7) Section 6013(f)(1) (relating to joint return where 
     individual is in missing status).
       (8) Section 7508 (relating to time for performing certain 
     acts postponed by reason of service in combat zone).
       (b) Qualified Hazardous Duty Area.--For purposes of this 
     section, the term ``qualified hazardous duty area'' means the 
     Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, if as of the date of the enactment 
     of this section any member of the Armed Forces of the United 
     States is entitled to special pay under section 310 of title 
     37, United States Code (relating to special pay; duty subject 
     to hostile fire or imminent danger) for services performed in 
     such location. Such term includes such location only during 
     the period such entitlement is in effect.
       (c) Effective Date.--
       (1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), the 
     provisions of this section shall take effect on June 9, 2015.
       (2) Withholding.--Subsection (a)(5) shall apply to 
     remuneration paid after the date of the enactment of this 
     Act.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Brown, and Mrs. 
        Capito):
  S. 708. A bill to improve the ability of U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection to interdict fentanyl, other synthetic opioids, and other 
narcotics and psychoactive substances that are illegally imported into 
the United States, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Homeland 
Security and Governmental Affairs.
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, I rise to speak again today about the 
epidemic of deadly, illicit fentanyl plaguing our Nation and how, 
through bipartisan legislation I have introduced today, we can help to 
stop this dangerous opioid from flowing into our country from abroad.
  I want to start by providing some basic information about fentanyl. 
What

[[Page S1976]]

is fentanyl? Well, fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 times 
stronger than heroin and 100 times more powerful than morphine. 
Although pharmaceutical fentanyl can be misused, the current fentanyl 
epidemic in our country is being fueled by illicitly manufactured 
fentanyl and illicit versions of chemically similar compounds known as 
fentanyl analogs.
  Fentanyl, in its powder form, is often mixed with other illegal drugs 
like heroin or it is disguised in pill form to resemble an opioid 
painkiller like OxyContin. Many drug users overdose on fentanyl because 
they have no idea it is cut into whatever substance they are injecting 
or whatever pills they are swallowing. They simply do not realize just 
how deadly fentanyl is.
  In fact, just a few salt-size grains of fentanyl can kill an adult. 
Where does illicit fentanyl come from? According to the Drug 
Enforcement Administration, Mexico is the primary source for illicit 
fentanyl trafficked into the United States. Distributors in China are 
the principal source of the precursor chemicals, the chemical building 
blocks used to manufacture fentanyl in Mexico and elsewhere.
  China is also a source of finished product illicit fentanyl coming 
into the United States. Why is illicit fentanyl trafficking increasing? 
Well, we are in the midst of an opioid epidemic that has begun with the 
overprescription and resulting abuse of prescription opioids like 
OxyContin. When users found those pills too expensive to sustain their 
addiction, they turned to cheaper heroin.
  Now they are turning to even cheaper and more powerful fentanyl, 
which has become an extremely lucrative product for drug dealers and 
drug cartels. According to the DEA, a kilogram of heroin can be 
purchased from Colombia for about $6,000 and then sold on the wholesale 
drug market for $80,000--purchased for 6,000, sold for $80,000. By 
comparison, a kilogram of pure fentanyl can be purchased from China for 
less than $5,000 and then sold on the market for $80,000 as well.
  Because it is so potent that 1 kilogram of fentanyl can be cut with 
agents like talcum powder or caffeine, resulting in 24 kilograms of 
product to be sold, that means that one $5,000 kilogram of fentanyl 
actually reaps a whopping profit in the neighborhood of $1.6 million.
  What has been the impact of the fentanyl epidemic on the United 
States? Well, the DEA is so concerned about fentanyl that in March of 
2015, it issued a nationwide alert that highlighted the drug as a 
threat to health and public safety. Between 2014 and 2015, overdose 
deaths in the United States from synthetic opioids, principally illicit 
fentanyl, increased 72 percent.
  In 2015, there were more than 9,500 such overdose deaths in the 
United States. Last year, it is estimated that my home State of 
Massachusetts suffered more than 2,000 opioid-related overdose deaths, 
largely fueled by the deadly rise of illicit fentanyl. In fact, 
Massachusetts ranked second notionally per capita in synthetic opioid 
deaths, which includes fentanyl, with the number of deaths between 2014 
and 2015 increasing by 109 percent.
  Massachusetts authorities are now finding fentanyl in 74 percent of 
the State's opioid overdose deaths. If those figures hold up, that 
means last year there will have been roughly 1,500 fentanyl-related 
deaths in Massachusetts in 2016. If the fentanyl epidemic were to hit 
the entire Nation as hard as it is hitting Massachusetts, the country 
would lose almost 75,000 people each year to fentanyl. Think about 
that. Those are more deaths than the United States suffered in the 
entire Vietnam war.
  Fentanyl is the Godzilla of opioids. It will overrun communities and 
lay them to waste, unless we take action now to stop it. So how do we 
stop it? There is no easy solution to a crisis caused by a drug that is 
so small, so powerful, so profitable that those who traffic in it just 
want to make money, but we know we must act.
  First, we need to raise awareness of the dire threat fentanyl poses 
to our Nation. We need to educate the public about it. We need to 
elevate the issues to the highest levels of our government and the 
governments of the countries from which it comes. To help with that 
effort, last week, the Senate adopted a bipartisan sense of the Senate 
resolution on fentanyl trafficking that I introduced with Senator Rubio 
from Florida. I thank him for his partnership on that resolution. I 
thank Senators Toomey, Shaheen, King, Johnson, and Nelson for adding 
their support.
  The resolution calls on our government to use its broad diplomatic 
and law enforcement resources in partnership with Mexico and China to 
disrupt the trafficking of fentanyl. We are seeing the signs of some 
progress. In October of 2015, China added 116 synthetic chemicals, 
including 6 fentanyl products, to its list of controlled chemical 
substances. In February of 2017, China agreed to make carfentanil, a 
powerful fentanyl analogue, and three other fentanyl analogues illegal.
  Earlier this month, I led a group of 10 Senators in urging Secretary 
of State Tillerson to secure the votes of the 53 member nations of the 
U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs in favor of the scheduling of the 
fentanyl precursors. Last week, the Commission voted unanimously in 
favor of controlling these substances. This international cooperation 
is expected to yield meaningful dividends in the fight against illicit 
fentanyl.
  Fentanyl will require us to build bridges to our international 
partners, not walls. Indeed, I recently visited Mexico, where I met 
with law enforcement officials at the border, on the front lines of the 
smuggling and trafficking of narcotics into the United States. That is 
why today, Senators Rubio, Brown, Capito, and I introduced legislation 
to help this front line of drug detection at the border. It is called 
the INTERDICT Act. It provides badly needed high-tech equipment and 
other resources to U.S. Customs and Border Protection to help it detect 
and interdict illicit fentanyl being trafficked into the United States.
  Here is how it works. There are two principal ways drugs like 
fentanyl are trafficked into the United States. First, coming from 
Mexico, they are smuggled across the southwest border of the United 
States. They are hidden in vehicles, beneath false floors, behind 
hidden compartments, and elsewhere. The drugs are also carried into the 
United States by people, sometimes hidden in the hollowed-out heels of 
their shoes.
  Second, illegal fentanyl is also purchased online from overseas 
vendors in China and elsewhere--often on the dark web--and then shipped 
to Mexico or directly to the United States through the mail or express 
consignment carriers.
  Fentanyl shipped this way is often concealed inside legitimate goods, 
with fentanyl suppliers using various methods to mislabel shipments. 
For example, some conceal the powder in those small silica packages 
that say ``do not eat'' placed alongside everyday items. Others gift 
wrap shipments or label them as household products like laundry 
detergent to avoid detection.
  Customs and Border Protection has many different methods it uses to 
find contraband being smuggled into the United States at the border or 
through the mail. These include drug-sniffing dogs, various kinds of 
scanners, fiber-optic scopes, and physical searches. When Customs and 
Border Protection finds a suspicious substance using those and other 
methods, it has had success identifying it as an illicit drug like 
fentanyl with the help of high-tech, handheld chemical screening 
devices.
  So anytime Customs and Border Protection finds a suspicious powder, 
pill, or liquid, it can use a handheld device--really something that 
looks and feels like a Nintendo Game Boy--to conduct a test, in the 
field, with real-time results. That means narcotics like illicit 
fentanyl can be detected, identified, and seized quickly and on the 
spot. Those rapid results provide vital information for law enforcement 
officers to continue their investigation and, if appropriate, proceed 
with seizure and arrest. Not only does the use of this technology 
disrupt the flow of the drugs into the country, it protects the health 
and safety of law enforcement officials from exposure to dangerous 
substances like illicit fentanyl.
  Often, Border Patrol agents don't know what the powdery substance 
they have uncovered is and whether it poses a threat to them. That is 
especially alarming with illicit fentanyl, given its strength.

[[Page S1977]]

  Exposure to a small amount by contact with the skin or through 
inhalation can be fatal. Increased use of these high-tech devices will 
provide important protections for our law enforcement officers on the 
front lines. The INTERDICT Act also provides for additional equipment 
back in Customs and Border Protection laboratories, including more 
scientists who analyze and interpret test results.
  The INTERDICT Act ensures that Customs and Border Patrol will have 
hundreds of additional portable chemical screening devices available at 
international ports of entry and mail and express consignment 
facilities and additional equipment and personnel available in their 
laboratories so that they can provide support during all operational 
hours.
  Again, I thank Senator Rubio, Senator Brown, and Senator Capito for 
working together on a bipartisan basis so we can give these additional 
tools to fight this fentanyl epidemic. I urge all my colleagues to 
support this bill to fight the scourge of illicit drugs. It knows no 
political, geographic, or socioeconomic boundaries. It is the epidemic 
of our time.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

                          ____________________