[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 89 (Thursday, May 25, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H2602]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                PROTECTING INNOCENT LIVES FROM FENTANYL

  (Mr. CLINE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CLINE. Mr. Speaker, the communities throughout the Sixth 
Congressional District of Virginia and, in fact, every community across 
our Nation are now border communities because of the deadly fentanyl 
pouring through our open borders under the failed leadership of 
President Joe Biden and Secretary Mayorkas.
  Since October, Customs and Border Patrol agents have seized over 
14,000 pounds of fentanyl, enough to kill over 3.1 billion people. Even 
in western Virginia, drug cartels have been caught smuggling rainbow-
colored fentanyl with the intent of targeting our children.
  Just last year, roughly 75,000 people died of drug overdoses from 
synthetic opioids, largely illicit fentanyl or fentanyl-related 
substances.
  That is why, today, the House will be voting for the HALT Fentanyl 
Act because enough is enough.
  This legislation would raise penalties for fentanyl traffickers under 
the Controlled Substances Act, support research to understand the 
devastating mental health effects of fentanyl-related substances, and 
supply law enforcement with the resources needed to keep this drug off 
our streets.

  While our President has no plans to fix open borders or stop deadly 
fentanyl from being smuggled into our interior, the House will take 
action today to protect innocent lives by passing this important 
legislation.

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