[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 25 (Tuesday, February 8, 2022)]
[House]
[Page H1021]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      OUR NATION'S FENTANYL CRISIS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Meuser) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MEUSER. Madam Speaker, there is a fentanyl crisis in our country. 
It is plaguing our communities. It is plaguing my district, poisoning 
our children, and devastating American families.
  Madam Speaker, it seems to be ignored by many, however, both in the 
White House and on this House floor. Our southern border is an 
unmitigated disaster due to this administration's open border policies. 
Drugs, crime, and the secret transportation of illegal immigrants 
flooding into our communities without warning in the middle of the 
night is causing serious, long-term damage. Yet, it seems to be ignored 
by too many.
  Fentanyl is an extremely deadly substance. It has flowed into our 
country in droves by way of the southern border. A recent study found 
that fentanyl deaths have doubled in 30 States amid the border crisis. 
Americans are suffering at the hands of the drug cartels.
  Customs and Border Patrol reported a 134 percent increase in fentanyl 
seizures in fiscal year 2021 with a disturbing 11,201 pounds 
confiscated, which is estimated to be able to kill every American seven 
times over. This is devastating and unbelievable.
  With this high amount confiscated, the Drug Enforcement Agency was 
forced to put out a Public Safety Alert, warning the American people 
about fake pills laced with fentanyl and other fentanyl-related poisons 
putting so many at risk.
  Drug overdoses have hit a record high in 2021 at over 100,000 deaths 
in the United States including more than 5,000 deaths in Pennsylvania. 
Nearly two-thirds of these deaths were connected to fentanyl.

                              {time}  1100

  In 2021, the leading cause of deaths for Americans between the ages 
of 18 and 45 were drug overdoses. Is there any question that Congress 
should act? Madam Speaker, I am a cosponsor of the HALT Fentanyl Act. 
This legislation will permanently schedule fentanyl substances as a 
schedule I drug, giving law enforcement the ability to prosecute the 
trafficking of deadly fentanyl into American communities.
  My Democrat colleagues recently blocked this lifesaving legislation 
when my Republican colleagues offered it for consideration last week. 
It truly is hard to understand why President Biden and far too many of 
our Democrat colleagues, in fact, all last week, have ignored this 
crisis, blocked legislation that would help fight it, and have sat idly 
by as they contemplate what the root causes of our southern border 
crisis might be.
  Madam Speaker, if someone can show me where we have seen the White 
House actually mention fentanyl as the terrible scourge on our country, 
I would like to see it. If, however, they were to take a mirror to 
their own policies, they might realize that the root cause is the 
policies themselves. It is certainly time for Congress to act, to step 
up and do its job together to stop the flow of fentanyl into our 
communities.

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