[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 211 (Tuesday, December 7, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8945-S8946]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Remembering Mike Garbo

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I come to the floor today to discuss 
what anybody ought to discuss with a heavy heart because when it comes 
to fighting drug abuse, the United States seems to be losing.
  Over 100,000 Americans have died from drug overdoses in the last year 
alone. These casualties could have been prevented by better drug 
prevention, treatment, and intervention, but the brunt of this epidemic 
is due to drug trafficking organizations. Cartels fuel the flames of 
drug abuse, often using violence and causing devastating loss of life.
  Drug traffickers lace street drugs with fentanyl, making deadly drugs 
even more lethal. And, of course, we all know that most or all of that 
fentanyl comes from China. China is winning a war, killing Americans 
through drug overuse, without even firing a shot.
  Of course, drug traffickers are not slowing down. In June of this 
year alone, Customs and Border Protection agents seized over 1,000 
pounds of fentanyl. This could kill two-thirds of the population of the 
United States.
  The boots-on-the-ground agents seize these drugs before they reach 
us, but what they find, what they seize, is a fraction of what comes 
into the United States. In my home State of Iowa, agents from the Drug 
Enforcement Administration seized more lethal doses

[[Page S8946]]

of fentanyl in 2020 than there were people within the State. This means 
the Drug Enforcement Administration seized enough fentanyl to kill 
everyone in Iowa.
  Our law enforcement officers are critical to the fight against 
illicit drugs.
  Now, listen. In the last year or two, law enforcement has been 
subject to terrible abuse, but these brave men and women don't do just 
great things; they also do good--good for our country and good in 
protecting our people. The brave members of State and local law 
enforcement--you know, like the police, like the sheriffs, like the 
correctional officers, as well as our Federal officers--deserve honor 
and respect. They put their lives on the line to ensure that we are all 
safe.
  When tragedy strikes, we feel the loss of our fiercest defenders. In 
fact, according to the FBI, the rate of officers killed in the line of 
duty is up. As of last month, 59 members of law enforcement were killed 
in 2021. At this point in 2020, the number was 39, and that was still 
an uptick from years prior. This trend is a grim reminder of the 
bravery, the courage, and the valor each law enforcement officer has 
when they go to work.
  DEA Agent Mike Garbo was one of our most recent casualties in the 
fight against the illicit drug trade. He was conducting a routine check 
on an Amtrak train in Arizona when two drug traffickers ambushed him 
and his fellow DEA agents with gunfire, and of course Agent Garbo was 
killed.
  Agent Garbo was a committed law enforcement person, committed to a 
career of public service generally and law enforcement specifically. He 
served as a police officer in Nashville for nearly 12 years before he 
joined the Drug Enforcement Administration. He served the DEA honorably 
for more than 16 years, combating drug traffickers all over the globe, 
from our southwest border all the way to Afghanistan.
  This tragedy reminds us in Washington, here, that our work to stop 
the flow of illicit drugs and to combat drug-related crime isn't over. 
I support being tough on deadly drugs like fentanyl substances by 
pushing for permanently scheduling all fentanyl analogs, and I am 
leading a bipartisan effort to proactively control synthetic analogs 
and address the heightened threats of methamphetamine.
  Being pro-active in the fight against illicit, deadly drugs is 
critical for multiple reasons.
  First, we want to make sure it is harder for drug traffickers to 
bring drugs into our Nation and to fuel the addiction crisis, but we 
also need to make it harder for drug traffickers to feel emboldened in 
lawlessness and to kill law enforcement people like Mike Garbo.
  It is time for us to stop sharing stories about tragedies, and, 
instead, we need to rewrite the story of our future as a nation. I urge 
my colleagues to act for the betterment of all Americans and join me in 
the fight against the illicit drug trade, particularly the scheduling 
of fentanyl and its analogs.
  Most importantly, we must all--and I do--thank Agent Garbo and his 
family for putting his life on the line to protect his fellow 
countrymen. His sacrifice is, sadly, much too common, but it doesn't 
make it any less powerful and tragic. We will continue to honor this 
man and those who follow in his footsteps as we fight the spread of 
illicit, deadly drugs.