[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 43 (Monday, March 12, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1632-S1633]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Grassley, and Mrs. 
        Feinstein):
  S. 2535. A bill to amend the Controlled Substances Act to strengthen 
Drug Enforcement Administration discretion in setting opioid quotas; to 
the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. DURBIN. 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. 2535

       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 ``Opioid Quota Reform Act''.

     SEC. 2. STRENGTHENING CONSIDERATIONS FOR DEA OPIOID QUOTAS.

       Section 306 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 
     826) is amended--
       (1) in the last sentence of subsection (a), by striking `` 
     and not in terms of individual pharmaceutical dosage forms 
     prepared from or containing such a controlled substance''; 
     and
       (2) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(i)(1) In fixing and adjusting production and 
     manufacturing quotas under this section for fentanyl, 
     oxycodone, hydrocodone, oxymorphone, and hydromorphone, the 
     Attorney General shall consider the impact of the production 
     and manufacturing quotas on overall public health and rates 
     of diversion, abuse, and overdose deaths related to these 
     controlled substances in the United States. Any of the 
     considerations in this subsection or in subsection (a) may be 
     used to determine changes to levels of such production and 
     manufacturing quotas in a given year.
       ``(2)(A) For any year in which the approved production 
     quota for fentanyl, oxycodone, hydrocodone, oxymorphone, or 
     hydromorphone is higher than the approved production quota 
     for the substance in the previous year, the Attorney General 
     shall include in its final order an explanation of why the 
     public health benefits of increasing such quota outweigh the 
     consequences of having an increased volume of such substance 
     available for sale, and potential diversion, in the United 
     States.
       ``(B) Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 
     this subsection and every year thereafter, the Attorney 
     General shall provide to the Caucus on International 
     Narcotics Control, Committee on the Judiciary, Committee on 
     Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and Committee on 
     Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on the 
     Judiciary, Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Committee on 
     Appropriations of the House of Representatives, the following 
     information with regard to each of the substances described 
     in subparagraph (A):
       ``(i) An anonymized count of the total number of 
     manufacturers issued individual manufacturing quotas that 
     year for that substance.
       ``(ii) A count of how many such manufacturers were issued 
     an approved manufacturing quota that was higher than the 
     quota issued to that manufacturer for that substance in the 
     previous year.
       ``(3) Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 
     of this subsection, the Attorney General shall submit to 
     Congress a report on how the Attorney General will ensure 
     that the annual process of fixing and adjusting production 
     and manufacturing quotas under this section takes into 
     consideration--
       ``(A) efforts to reduce the costs, injuries, and deaths 
     associated with the diversion and abuse of prescription 
     opioids and heroin, including changes in the accepted medical 
     use of certain controlled substances; and
       ``(B) data collection and evaluation of the volume of 
     controlled substances that are diverted and collected from 
     approved drug collection receptacles, mail-back programs, and 
     take-back events.''.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. FLAKE:
  S. 2538. A bill to prohibit an increase in duties on imports of steel 
and aluminum; to the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. FLAKE. Mr. President, when these ill-conceived tariffs were 
announced last week, I said I would introduce legislation that would 
immediately nullify this very unfortunate exercise in protectionism 
before it could wreak havoc on our economy.
  If implemented, these tariffs will do just what tariffs have always 
done. They will lead to job losses and will stymie economic growth. 
What is worse, the President's attempt at flexibility in the form of 
poorly defined exceptions only serves to harm the economy further by 
creating uncertainty. Tariffs are bad enough on their own; tariffs 
married with uncertainty are even worse.
  Can you imagine the President saying one day, ``Well, I think that 
Australia is moving in ways that we think are good in this area or 
that, so I am going to lessen the tariffs that we impose on steel and 
aluminum for Australia''? The next day it is Brazil. ``If it does this 
or that that is unrelated to these tariffs, I might lift tariffs or 
lessen the burden of tariffs on that country.'' Yet, a week later, if 
Brazil makes another move, the President might seek to reimpose or to 
make the burden heavier. That simply doesn't work if you are trying to 
achieve economic growth and if you are trying to convince countries to 
enter into trade partnerships with you. Particularly when you are 
dealing with our allies, that is no way to treat your allies.
  I understand free trade is sometimes a challenge. I understand that 
it is a challenge on the campaign trail, certainly. It is often easier 
to point to a shuttered factory and blame trade or immigration or some 
other convenient scapegoat other than what is usually the case--
modernization or mechanization or something that has meant that we have 
increased productivity or simply the best allocation capital in order 
to facilitate trade.
  We have to aggressively negotiate both bilateral and multilateral 
trade deals if we are to catch up. If we fail to do this and continue 
to withdraw from the global marketplace, we are going to be left far 
behind. We saw this with regard to the Trans-Pacific Partnership. We 
pulled out of those negotiations, and the other 11 countries involved 
simply went on their own and left us behind. That has meant, in 
particular, countries in Southeast Asia, which would like to be a part 
of our trade orbit, have had no choice but to be more reliant on China. 
That doesn't serve our interests at all.
  We have to remember we represent just 20 percent of the world's 
economic output. We represent just 5 percent of the world's population 
or just less than that. If we don't trade, we don't grow. You can be 
pro-growth or you can be pro-tariff, but you can't be both.
  Those who have reservations about these tariffs ought to support this 
legislation that I am introducing today to

[[Page S1633]]

nullify the tariffs. Those who have expressed admiration for free trade 
or supply-side economics ought to support this bill as well. Those who 
are happy with the economic growth that we have recently achieved and 
are interested in seeing it continue ought to support this bill. We now 
have a better climate for economic growth on both the regulatory side 
and the tax side. If we enter a trade war, we risk reversing those 
gains we have made.
  We in Congress cannot be complicit as this administration courts 
economic disaster in this fashion. I urge my colleagues to join me in 
exercising our constitutional oversight and to invalidate these 
irresponsible tariffs.

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