[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 73 (Wednesday, April 28, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2275-S2277]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Biden Administration

  Mr. MARSHALL. Madam President, on January 20, President Joe Biden 
gave his inaugural address to the American people, saying that in order 
to overcome the challenges we face as a nation and ``to restore the 
soul and [to] secure the future of America requires more than words; it 
requires that most elusive of things in a democracy: unity. Unity.''
  I end the quote.
  And he says for a second time: ``Unity.'' In fact, he mentioned the 
word ``unity'' nine separate times throughout his inaugural remarks. 
Unfortunately, that ``unity'' President Biden preached about is nowhere 
to be found.
  One hundred days in office, and there has been zero bipartisanship 
from the

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White House on any major issue. We have seen zero effort by the White 
House to take any Republican idea or concept seriously. In fact, they 
have done very little to reach across the aisle, engage Republicans, or 
have a serious conversation with us.
  They have shown that they are not interested in bipartisanship, as 
they continue to jam through their radical agenda and seek power grab 
after power grab.
  We have seen a record number of Executive orders, the first partisan 
COVID relief bill, steps to grant DC statehood to tip the powers of 
scale, a directive that threatens private property rights--the 
cornerstone of our democracy--an attempt to federalize elections and 
destroy election integrity with H.R. 1, threats to eliminate the 
filibuster, increased gas prices for Americans at the pump, efforts to 
pack the Supreme Court, disguised measures to pass the Green New Deal, 
calls to defund police, mandates to allow biological boys to compete in 
girls' sports, and tax increases on all Americans, and much, much more.
  Things are changing in DC. History will record President Biden as 
having spent more money than any other President in U.S. history in his 
first 100 days. I am warning everyone: Grab your wallets. History will 
record President Biden's misguided policies as making our Nation less 
safe, having created a health crisis, a national security crisis, and a 
humanitarian crisis at the southern border.
  What I hope to hear from President Biden this evening is not likely 
to be covered in a speech. He is going to try to explain to us--even 
though our economy is recovering and we just borrowed and spent $2 
trillion from our grandchildren--why we now need to spend another $2 
trillion and why he needs to raise your taxes to do it. He is going to 
try to describe the legislation he wants passed as a so-called 
infrastructure bill, when less than 5 percent of it is going toward 
roads and bridges.
  He is going to try to convince Americans of something that is a 
misnomer and not a truth. What he won't tell you is this is a recipe to 
kill Kansas jobs and an economic catastrophe for this Nation.
  Last week, President Biden signed into law a bipartisan bill I 
introduced, alongside Senators Bill Cassidy and Tina Smith, to lower 
prescription drug prices for the American people. Additionally, we 
unanimously passed a bill out of the Ag Committee regarding carbon 
markets. These are both great examples of the unity the President spoke 
of in his inaugural address--Democrats and Republicans coming together 
to deliver solutions for the American people.
  These are good first steps, and in case there is more opportunity for 
bipartisanship, let me tell you where we can and should start. We can 
start with an infrastructure package that actually rebuilds our aging 
roads, bridges, and waterways; invest in future generations and ensure 
high-speed internet for all Americans and incentivize innovation. We 
can start with staying the course laid out by Operation Warp Speed and 
get more shots in people's arms so we can reach herd immunity sooner 
rather than later. We can start with people getting back to work and 
finally unleash our economy to prepandemic levels, and we can start 
getting all our kids back in school.
  As President Biden said in his inaugural address, ``This is our 
historic moment of crisis and challenge, and unity is the path 
forward.''
  If he truly puts unity above all else, we can accomplish great things 
for the American people, for it is unity that will see this country 
come roaring back, not President Biden's radical, partisan ways that 
have further divided this Nation.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arkansas


                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 1410

  Mr. COTTON. Madam President, sadly, the United States is in the midst 
of the deadliest drug epidemic in our Nation's history, caused by some 
of the deadliest drugs ever created.
  It appears that more than 80,000 Americans died from drug overdose 
last year. By far, the biggest killers were lab-made opioids, such as 
fentanyl, which are cheap to produce and easy to mix with other street 
drugs such as heroin. These lethal cocktails have devastated countless 
communities and families across our Nation. Too many parents have come 
home to a dead child who mistakenly took a prescription pill or a so-
called party drug laced with this deadly fentanyl.
  Illicit fentanyl, the kind created in underground Chinese drug labs 
or smuggled across our porous southern border by Mexican cartels, is 
made only to addict and kill. For those dark, terrible purposes, 
fentanyl is unsurpassed in the tragic history of addiction. It is 50 to 
100 times stronger than morphine. Just 2 milligrams of fentanyl, an 
amount equivalent to a few grains of salt, is enough to kill a grown 
man.
  Just last December, police arrested a man in Arkansas carrying 7 
pounds of fentanyl. Depending on the purity of that fentanyl, that 
would have been enough to deliver a fatal dose to up to 1.5 million 
Americans. That is far from the biggest fentanyl bust that police have 
ever made.
  That means that every time our Border Patrol stops a drug mule coming 
across our southern border, every time the Coast Guard intercepts a 
drug runners' vessel in our waters, and every time a SWAT team raids a 
drug dealer's stash house, they could be averting what is, in effect, a 
mass casualty attack on our country.
  Unfortunately, these Mexican drug cartels and Chinese superlabs are 
diabolically creative in waging this new kind of opium war against the 
United States. When American law enforcement started cracking down on 
fentanyl a few years ago, the cartels started producing so-called 
analogs or look-alike drugs that are chemically distinct from fentanyl, 
yet have no legitimate medical uses but will kill you just as quickly. 
Some of these analogs are even more powerful than fentanyl--up to 150 
times more potent of a drug that I would remind you, once again, is, 
itself, 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. Because these drugs 
are chemically distinct from fentanyl, prosecuting and shutting down 
their creators is often prohibitively expensive, requiring law 
enforcement to hire expert witnesses to testify the analog is, in fact, 
a deadly drug.
  In 2018, the Drug Enforcement Administration took the necessary and 
prudent step listing the entire class of fentanyl analogs as schedule I 
prohibited substances. This decision closed a deadly loophole that drug 
dealers were using to escape punishment from poisoning our citizens, 
while still allowing legitimate researchers to apply for and obtain 
approval to research these analogs for potential medical or scientific 
breakthroughs.
  The evidence suggests that this law enforcement action has been 
getting results. Since the classwide scheduling went into effect in 
early 2018, law enforcement encounters with uncontrolled fentanyl 
analogs plummeted by almost 90 percent.
  Of course, our work to solve the opioid epidemic is far from 
finished. We still have much to do to dismantle the cartels and drug 
trafficking networks that spread fentanyl and analogs and mix it with 
other drugs. But the DEA's efforts to control fentanyl analogs were a 
step in the right direction.
  Last year, the Senate voted unanimously to extend the DEA's emergency 
scheduling of fentanyl, but that extension is now set to expire. We 
have the opportunity--in fact, I would say we have the responsibility 
to permanently control these deadly fentanyl analogs so law enforcement 
has the legal backup it needs to take these dangerous drugs off the 
streets.
  If Congress doesn't act, this emergency scheduling order is set to 
expire next week. The authority of our Border Patrol to seize these 
drugs as they cross the border will be dramatically reduced. Cartels 
will, once again, be able to exploit loopholes to evade prosecution, 
and Chinese superlabs will get right back to work inventing new and 
creative ways to repackage fentanyl and to kill even more Americans. We 
cannot let that happen.
  I introduced a bill to solve this problem once and for all by merely 
eliminating the expiration date on the law that protects us against 
these fentanyl analogs. I am asking my colleagues to approve it just 
like we did last year--unanimously.
  I would also like to urge my Democratic colleagues to disregard the 
liberal activist groups that are lobbying

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against controlling these deadly fentanyl analogs because they hope to 
use it as a bargaining chip to reduce criminal penalties for the most 
serious drug traffickers. Think about that. More Americans died of a 
drug overdose last year than in any other year in our history. Yet 
these liberal activists are trying to help the drug traffickers who 
spread these very poisons. If they succeed, drug dealers will have an 
easier time killing Americans for profit, and prosecutors will have to 
waste valuable resources proving that each new form of fentanyl they 
encounter is, in fact, a deadly drug.
  We cannot play politics with this bill, trading the lives of innocent 
Americans for more lenient treatment of cartels and superlabs. 
Protecting Americans from deadly fentanyl should not be treated as a 
bargaining piece or poker chip. I ask my colleagues to think of the 
victims and think of the urgency of this measure. I am offering this 
bill on behalf of tens of thousands of Americans who were with us just 
last year but are not today because of these deadly synthetic drugs. I 
am offering this on behalf of the countless Americans who can still be 
saved if we act.
  I urge my colleagues to support this measure and, therefore, Madam 
President, as in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Senate proceed to immediate consideration of S. 1410, introduced 
earlier today; further, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be 
considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to 
reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. BOOKER. Reserving the right to object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey
  Mr. BOOKER. I am deeply grateful to my colleague and friend, the 
Senator from Arkansas, for bringing this to the floor of the U.S. 
Senate.
  There is an urgency he described that I agree with. One hundred 
Senators here, and not one State has not been touched, devastatingly, 
by the fentanyl epidemic. These analogs present a crisis to our 
country. Lives are at stake so I share his sense of urgency.
  I am hoping we can work together to find a way to stop, as he put it, 
these cartels and these drug labs from wreaking such havoc on our 
country. I believe that together we can find a solution. In fact, there 
has been constructive talk across the Capitol--bipartisan talk about 
finding a way to come to some kind of accord.
  In addition to that, I am hopeful that there are other bills out 
there that have the same ambition, the same goal, the same sense of 
urgency that I believe should be part of the discussion; for example, 
policies like the ones in the STOP Fentanyl Act, which I understand 
Senator Markey will be introducing in the Senate very soon. I believe 
we should have time in the Judiciary Committee to work on a longer term 
solution that cannot just deal with the international cartels, not just 
deal with these horrific drug labs but also empower people who are 
addicted to begin not to be punished simply with the criminal justice 
system but to find ways to provide treatment and support to people who 
are struggling with addictions to this horrific drug.
  So with that, I would like to object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Baldwin). Objection is heard.
  The junior Senator from Arkansas.
  Mr. COTTON. I thank my colleague from New Jersey for these remarks.
  Time is not on our side. This emergency scheduling order expires next 
week. The Senate is not in session next week.
  I know that we want to empower addicts, as the Senator from New 
Jersey said; that we want to help give them the treatment they need to 
get back on their feet. That is a goal I share.
  We are talking, though, about drug dealers, drug traffickers, 
cartels, Chinese superlabs. If we do not pass an extension--in my bill, 
a permanent extension of this emergency scheduling order--it is the 
addicts who will be hurt because the drug dealers and these cartels and 
superlabs will simply begin to flood our streets, once again, with the 
synthetic fentanyl analogs, which I remind you, again, can be 150 times 
more potent than fentanyl itself, which is 50 to 100 times more potent 
than morphine.
  I hope my Democratic friends will reconsider in the short time we 
have this week, and we will be able to pass a permanent extension of 
this scheduling order.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The junior Senator from New Jersey.
  Mr. BOOKER. Madam President, I want to say, in conclusion, before I 
switch to another topic, that I appreciate the willingness of the 
Senator from Arkansas to look not just at his bill but a powerful 
potential bipartisan extension however we can deal with this. The 
urgency does exist. We are in a crisis.