[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 86 (Monday, May 22, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H2469-H2471]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PREVENTING THE FINANCING OF ILLEGAL SYNTHETIC DRUGS ACT
Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass
the bill (H.R. 1076) to require the Comptroller General of the United
States to carry out a study on the trafficking into the United States
of synthetic drugs, and related illicit finance, and for other
purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 1076
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 ``Preventing the Financing of
Illegal Synthetic Drugs Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) According to the Center for Disease Control and
Prevention, over 107,000 people in the United States died
from drug overdoses or drug poisonings in the 12-month period
ending January 2022, with 67 percent of those deaths
involving synthetic opioids like fentanyl.
(2) According to the United National Office of Drugs and
Crime (UNODC) in its ``Synthetic Drug Strategy 2021-2025'',
the number of synthetic drugs, also called New Psychoactive
Substances, has increased 631 percent since 2009, with
traffickers introducing an average of 80 new substances to
the illicit drug market each year from 2009-2019.
(3) In October 2022, F. Michael McDaniel, director of the
Houston High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HITDA) program
testified in Congress that one kilogram of fentanyl can
produce one million counterfeit pills containing one
milligram of fentanyl, saying, ``Currently in Houston, Texas,
you can buy a kilogram of fentanyl for an average price of
$25,000 to $30,000. This same kilogram of fentanyl in
Culiacan (Mexico) could be purchased at an average price of
$13,500. Currently, the price of a fentanyl pill in Houston
ranges from $6 to $65. Therefore, an illicit investment of
$30,000 or less could result in a return of $6 to $32.5
million.''.
(4) According to Celina B. Realuyo, Adjunct Professor, The
George Washington University Elliott School of International
Affairs, in March 2022 Congressional testimony, ``Financing
is essential to support and sustain the command and control,
personnel, arms, communications, logistics and operations of
organized crime groups. For this reason, following the money
trail and depriving criminals of illicit financial flows can
disrupt and disable these networks.''.
SEC. 3. GAO STUDY ON SYNTHETIC DRUGS TRAFFICKING.
(a) Study.--The Comptroller General of the United States
shall carry out a study on illicit financing in connection
with the trafficking of synthetic drugs, including fentanyl
and methamphetamine, fentanyl- and methamphetamine-related
substances, Captagon, and fentanyl and methamphetamine
precursors, including--
(1) the business of the trafficking of synthetic drugs and
related illicit finance, such as the participation of
transnational criminal organizations and terror syndicates
and their notable trafficking corridors, including source and
transit countries;
(2) the business models used by these transnational
criminal organizations, including U.S. domestic and foreign
activities for precursor purchase or production, movement
along the supply chain, manufacture of the completed product,
marketing, distribution, sales, and return of proceeds;
(3) the overlap of the business model of human trafficking
and the trafficking of synthetic drugs and related illicit
finance;
(4) the use of online illicit drug markets and the use of
social media for the marketing, sale, and payment for
synthetic drugs;
(5) financial methods used by such transnational criminal
organizations, including--
(A) payment;
(B) money laundering; and
(C) repatriation of proceeds;
(6) the use of social media applications like Snap Chat,
Discord, and Facebook and payment applications like CashApp
to facilitate financial transactions for synthetic drug
trafficking, especially among young people; and
(7) U.S. Government activities to combat illicit finance
related to the trafficking of synthetic drugs, including--
(A) interagency collaboration, including personnel detailed
to other agencies to support the effort to combat synthetic
drugs trafficking and related illicit finance;
(B) intergovernmental collaboration;
(C) intersectoral collaboration with the private sector,
including the business and non-governmental communities; and
(D) identified gaps or resource deficiencies in combating
the trafficking of synthetic drugs and related illicit
finance in the coordination and collaboration activities
described in subparagraphs (A) through (C).
(b) Report Required.--Not later than the end of the 1-year
period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, the
Comptroller General shall issue a report to the Congress
containing all findings and determinations made in carrying
out the study required under subsection (a).
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Missouri (Mr. Luetkemeyer) and the gentlewoman from Colorado (Ms.
Pettersen) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Missouri.
General Leave
Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous material on this bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Missouri?
There was no objection.
Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1076, the Preventing the
Financing of Illegal Synthetic Drugs Act.
As we are all painfully aware, fentanyl is a poison that is
afflicting every community across America. This poison is a synthetic
opioid 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than
morphine. Just 2 milligrams, equal to 10 to 15 grains of table salt, is
enough to be lethal.
That is why I am grateful that Members like Congresswoman De La Cruz
have hit the ground running on commonsense legislation like H.R. 1076
to sever the lifeblood that keeps the fentanyl business model going,
which is its financing.
As we heard in the Financial Services Committee hearing titled,
``Follow the Money,'' ``Financing is essential to support and sustain
the command and control, personnel, arms, communications, logistics,
and operations of organized crime groups. For this reason, following
the money trail and depriving criminals of illicit financial flows can
disrupt and disable these networks.''
I recognize there are many challenges to attacking the fentanyl
crisis, including our unsecured border, but from a Financial Services
Committee perspective, we can only address what
[[Page H2470]]
is in our jurisdiction, and that is its financing.
Congresswoman De La Cruz's study will help inform Congress on the
next best step to disrupt and dismantle synthetic drug trafficking and
its financing.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to support this bill, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. PETTERSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1076, the Preventing the
Financing of Illegal Synthetic Drugs Act sponsored by the gentlewoman
from Texas (Ms. De La Cruz), a bill that I am pleased to cosponsor and
co-lead.
Thanks to collaboration on both sides of the aisle, this bill offers
a well-written study focused on the financing and proceeds of the
illicit synthetic drug trade that is victimizing communities across the
country. By following the money behind the multibillion-dollar drug
trade, we are able to understand the traffickers' operations and
improve our ability to disrupt their activities.
The effects of this trafficking have been staggering. Deaths
involving synthetic opioids, such as illicit fentanyl and
methamphetamine, increased by 22 percent in 2021, resulting in the
deaths of more than 100,000 of our family members and neighbors. In
2022, there were also nearly 200,000 nonfatal opioid overdoses in the
U.S. In 2021, overdose death rates increased 44 percent for Black
people and 39 percent for American Indian and Alaska Natives, showing
troubling trends and widening disparities among population groups.
Combating the opioid epidemic is one of the reasons why I ran for
Congress. Like too many Americans, my family has been impacted by the
opioid crisis. My mom's addiction began with the overprescription of
opioids, which led to heroin and ultimately fentanyl when it started to
take over the drug supply chain in 2016. Unfortunately, my mom's story
is not unique in Jefferson County, in Colorado, or in this country.
The opioid epidemic is now more lethal than ever as we continue to
see drugs become more and more potent and easier to traffic. It is
going to take an all-hands-on-deck approach to stop the flow of
fentanyl and other illicit synthetic opioids in this country. Ensuring
that we understand the financial networks of drug trafficking
organizations is a critical tool that we need to protect American
lives.
This bill will not solve all the issues related to the opioid crisis.
We need to do more to increase access to substance use disorder
treatment and recovery services, and we need to do more to help support
the workforce shortages. We need to crack down on social media
companies that are permitting the sale of illegal drugs to young
Americans, and we need to ensure that the financial system has the
tools to quickly identify bad actors and break up their drug
trafficking rings.
As a member of the House Financial Services Committee, I advocate for
leveraging every financial tool at our disposal to pursue the
traffickers of illicit fentanyl and other drugs. In this role, I also
advocate for every individual family and community that has suffered or
will suffer from misguided antidrug policies' physical, social, and
economic damage to have the support that they need.
Thus, I urge my fellow Members to vote for this needed trafficking
study bill, but I also urge them to consider that we must take the time
to learn the lessons of past epidemics and take further steps to
eliminate harmful and counterproductive policies.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to
the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. De La Cruz), the sponsor of this bill,
a new and dynamic member of our committee.
Ms. De La CRUZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Missouri for
yielding and for his broader leadership of the Financial Services
Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance, and International
Financial Institutions.
Mr. Speaker, according to the CDC, over 107,000 Americans died from
drug overdoses or drug poisonings in the 12-month period ending January
2022. Sixty-seven percent of those deaths involved synthetic opioids
like fentanyl, which is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100
times stronger than morphine.
Last year, Hidalgo County, which sits in my district, made news with
massive fentanyl seizures at the U.S.-Mexico border. These include $1.5
million in January 2022 and $330,000 in June. These numbers are
staggering. According to law enforcement, an illicit investment of
$30,000 or less could yield $6 to $32 million.
To end this crisis, we must tackle the financing. As the adage goes,
``Follow the money.'' This money fuels the operations of the cartels
that are poisoning our families.
My bill, the Preventing the Financing of Illegal Synthetic Drugs Act,
will help law enforcement pinpoint the business model of the
traffickers, how they move and hide their profits, and what the U.S.
can do to stop fentanyl money laundering.
To end this carnage that is taking so many lives in south Texas and
all across America, we must track down the funds that fuel it.
{time} 1615
Ms. PETTERSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to
the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Beatty).
Mrs. BEATTY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me
time, and I thank my colleagues on the other side of the aisle for
their bipartisan support.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in support of the Preventing the
Financing of Illegal Synthetic Drugs Act, H.R. 1076.
Mr. Speaker, as the ranking member of the Financial Services
Subcommittee of National Security, Illicit Finance, and International
Financial Institutions, our jurisdiction tends to focus abroad, but
make no mistake, the epidemic of synthetic drug overdoses impacts each
and every congressional district and every community throughout our
country. For example, Ohio ranks third in the overall number of drug
overdose deaths, which we are not proud of.
According to the most recent study by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, over 107,000 people in the United States have died from
drug overdoses or drug poisoning in the past 12 months.
Mr. Speaker, 5,000 of those individuals were right there in my
district.
Let me also share, as my colleague and our chair of the committee has
stated to us, under the bill, the GAO would examine these illicit
financial flows from and to foreign nations, including China, and will
review the business of the trafficking of synthetic drugs and related
illicit finance, such as participation in transnational criminal
organizations and behaviors.
If we are going to stop the flow of illicit drugs like fentanyl and
meth and the tragic loss of lives they bring with them, then we need to
know more about the who, the where, and the how of the illegal
trafficking trade.
Mr. Speaker, that is why I am honored to support what I call a
commonsense, bipartisan piece of legislation. Again, I thank the chair,
our ranking member, the bill's sponsors, and, certainly, our Financial
Services Committee, and I urge my colleagues to join in support.
Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. PETTERSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative De La Cruz for her collaboration
on this bill. Together, we can better understand the financing of drug
trafficking and how the traffickers move and hide their proceeds. Doing
so will help Congress and other policymakers to better disrupt their
operations, protecting innocent Americans from the deadly harm that
they cause in communities across the country.
Mr. Speaker, I again urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Mr. Speaker, I think the bill's sponsor, Ms. De La
Cruz, and cosponsor Mrs. Beatty, have both articulated very well the
need for this bill. It is a good idea.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues' support for the bill, and I yield
back the balance of my time.
[[Page H2471]]
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Luetkemeyer) that the House suspend the
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 1076, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.
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