[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 128 (Tuesday, July 25, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H3910-H3913]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STOP CHINESE FENTANYL ACT OF 2023
Mr. BARR. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill
(H.R. 3203) to impose sanctions with respect to Chinese producers of
synthetic opioids and opioid precursors, to hold Chinese officials
accountable for the spread of illicit fentanyl, and for other purposes,
as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 3203
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 ``Stop Chinese Fentanyl Act of
2023''.
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that the Government of the
People's Republic of China should--
(1) work with the United States Government to identify a
list of unregulated chemicals used to create precursor
chemicals that bear increased scrutiny;
(2) require the proper labeling of chemical and equipment
shipments in accordance with international rules;
(3) immediately implement ``know-your-customer'' procedures
for chemical shipments; and
(4) direct all relevant departments and agencies, including
the National Narcotics Control Commission, the Ministry of
Public Security, the General Administration of Customs, and
the National Medical Products Administration of the
Government of the People's Republic of China to establish new
rules to crack down on precursor trafficking and enforce such
rules swiftly.
SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE FENTANYL SANCTIONS ACT.
(a) Definitions.--Section 7203(5) of the Fentanyl Sanctions
Act (21 U.S.C. 2302(5)) is amended--
(1) by striking ``The term `foreign opioid trafficker'
means any foreign person'' and inserting the following: ``The
term `foreign opioid trafficker'--
``(A) means any foreign person'';
(2) by striking the period at the end and inserting ``;
and''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(B) includes--
``(i) any entity of the People's Republic of China that the
President determines--
``(I) produces, manufactures, distributes, sells, or
knowingly finances or transports any goods described in
clause (i) or (ii) of paragraph (8)(A); and
``(II) fails to take credible steps, including through
implementation of appropriate know-your-customer procedures
or through cooperation with United States counternarcotics
efforts, to detect or prevent opioid trafficking; and
``(ii) any senior official of the Government of the
People's Republic of China or other Chinese political
official that--
``(I) has significant regulatory or law enforcement
responsibilities with respect to the activities of an entity
described in clause (i); and
``(II) aids and abets, including through intentional
inaction, opioid trafficking.''.
(b) Identification of Foreign Opioid Traffickers.--Section
7211 of the Fentanyl Sanctions Act (21 U.S.C. 2311) is
amended--
(1) in subsection (a)(1)(A), by adding at the end before
the semicolon the following: ``, including whether the heads
of the National Narcotics Control Commission, the Ministry of
Public Security, the General Administration of Customs, and
the National Medical Products Administration of the
Government of the People's Republic of China are foreign
opioid traffickers''; and
(2) in subsection (c), by striking ``5 years'' and
inserting ``10 years''.
SEC. 4. AMENDMENTS TO THE INTERNATIONAL EMERGENCY ECONOMIC
POWERS ACT AND THE TRADING WITH THE ENEMY ACT.
(a) International Emergency Economic Powers Act.--
(1) Periodic evaluation.--Section 203 of the International
Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702) is amended by
adding at the end the following:
``(d) Periodic Evaluation.--
``(1) In general.--If the authority granted to the
President under this section is exercised with respect to a
covered national emergency, the President shall transmit to
the appropriate congressional committees,
[[Page H3911]]
not less frequently than annually, a periodic evaluation in
writing that--
``(A) assesses the effectiveness of the exercise of such
authority in resolving the covered national emergency;
``(B) considers the views of public- and private-sector
stakeholders; and
``(C) discusses any potential changes to the exercise of
the authority for the purpose of more effectively resolving
the covered national emergency.
``(2) Definitions.--In this subsection--
``(A) the term `appropriate congressional committees'
means--
``(i) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on
Financial Services, and the Committee on Oversight and
Accountability of the House of Representatives; and
``(ii) the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, the Committee on Foreign Relations, and the
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the
Senate; and
``(B) the term `covered national emergency' means a
national emergency that--
``(i) the President has declared, within the preceding 5-
year period, with respect to any national emergency regarding
international drug trafficking; and
``(ii) has not terminated.''.
(2) Consultation and reports.--Section 204 of the
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1703)
is amended--
(A) by striking ``the Congress'' each place it appears and
inserting ``the appropriate congressional committees''; and
(B) by adding at the end the following:
``(e) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined.--In
this section, the term `appropriate congressional committees'
has the meaning given that term in section 203(d)(2).''.
(3) Authority to issue regulations.--Section 205 of the
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1704)
is amended--
(A) by striking ``The President'' and inserting ``(a) The
President''; and
(B) by adding at the end the following:
``(b) In issuing regulations under subsection (a) pursuant
to a covered national emergency (as defined in section 203),
the President shall--
``(1) consider the costs and benefits of available
statutory and regulatory alternatives;
``(2) evaluate the costs and benefits for the purpose of
expeditiously resolving the applicable national emergency;
``(3) establish criteria for the eventual termination of
the applicable national emergency; and
``(4) include in the basis and purpose incorporated in the
regulations--
``(A) an explanation of how the regulations will resolve
the applicable national emergency; and
``(B) a discussion of the costs and benefits.''.
(4) Statute of limitations.--Section 206 of the
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705)
is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(d) Statute of Limitations.--
``(1) Civil penalty.--An action, suit, or proceeding for
the enforcement of any civil fine, penalty, or forfeiture,
pecuniary or otherwise, shall not be entertained unless
commenced within 10 years from the latest date of the
violation upon which the civil fine, penalty, or forfeiture
is based.
``(2) Criminal penalty.--No person shall be prosecuted,
tried, or punished for any offense under this section unless
the indictment is found or the information is instituted
within 10 years from the latest date of the violation upon
which the indictment or information is based.''.
(b) Trading With the Enemy Act.--Section 16 of the Trading
with the Enemy Act (50 U.S.C. 4315) is amended by adding at
the end the following:
``(d) Statute of Limitations.--
``(1) Criminal penalty.--No person shall be prosecuted,
tried, or punished for any offense under this section unless
the indictment is found or the information is instituted
within 10 years from the latest date of the violation upon
which the indictment or information is based.
``(2) Civil penalty.--An action, suit, or proceeding for
the enforcement of any civil fine, penalty, or forfeiture,
pecuniary or otherwise, shall not be entertained unless
commenced within 10 years from the latest date of the
violation upon which the civil fine, penalty, or forfeiture
is based.''.
SEC. 5. EXCEPTION RELATING TO IMPORTATION OF GOODS.
(a) In General.--A requirement to block and prohibit all
transactions in all property and interests in property
pursuant to this Act or any amendment made by this Act shall
not include the authority or a requirement to impose
sanctions on the importation of goods.
(b) Good Defined.--In this section, the term ``good'' means
any article, natural or manmade substance, material, supply
or manufactured product, including inspection and test
equipment, and excluding technical data.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Kentucky (Mr. Barr) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Connolly) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Kentucky.
General Leave
Mr. BARR. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and
include extraneous material on this measure.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Kentucky?
There was no objection.
Mr. BARR. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of my legislation, the Stop Chinese
Fentanyl Act, that is currently before the House.
The fentanyl crisis is one that is affecting families and communities
across the United States. As of 2021, 70,601 Americans died as a result
of synthetic opioid overdoses. As of 2020, 82.3 percent of all opioid-
involved overdoses were the result of synthetic opioids. Last year,
almost 70 percent of all drug overdose deaths were caused by fentanyl--
over 100,000 American lives destroyed because of this.
This has certainly impacted my home State, the Commonwealth of
Kentucky. A recent drug overdose report from the Kentucky Office of
Drug Control Policy reported that there was a 14.5 percent increase in
overdose deaths in my home State.
According to cases autopsied by the Kentucky Office of the Medical
Examiner and toxicology reports submitted by Kentucky coroners, the
rise in the death toll was driven largely by an increased use of
fentanyl, accounting for approximately 70 percent of all overdose
deaths in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Unfortunately, this scourge has spread with the help of our greatest
strategic threat, the People's Republic of China and the Chinese
Communist Party. We know that China has historically been and remains
the primary source of fentanyl in global circulation.
Since the Trump administration tightened controls on the shipment of
fentanyl into the United States, the CCP has adjusted their practices
and begun producing precursor chemicals and outsourcing final
production to cartel laboratories in Mexico to then exploit our porous
southern border and poison the American people.
In 2020, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized 4,800 pounds of
fentanyl, or enough to kill over a billion people. Just a tiny little
bit of this very deadly synthetic opioid is enough to kill.
This figure more than tripled in just 2 years to 14,700 pounds in
2022. In the first 2 months of 2023, Customs and Border Protection
seized 12,500 pounds. Much of this is originating from China exploiting
the cartels and exploiting our open southern border.
We must attack the production of fentanyl at its source by targeting
the source of the precursors in China. My legislation places sanctions
on Chinese producers of synthetic opioids and opioid precursors and
holds senior government and Chinese political officials accountable for
the spread of illicit fentanyl.
Specifically, it amends the Fentanyl Sanctions Act to expand the
definition of a foreign opioid trafficker to include any Chinese entity
that produces, manufactures, distributes, sells, finances, or
transports synthetic opioids or active pharmaceutical ingredients or
chemicals used to produce synthetic opioids and fails to take credible
steps to detect or prevent opioid trafficking, including know-your-
customer procedures or cooperation with U.S. counternarcotics efforts.
The expanded definition also includes any senior officials of the PRC
Government or other Chinese political official who has significant
regulatory or law enforcement responsibilities and fails to take
credible steps to combat foreign opioid traffickers.
Their culpability, the culpability of the Chinese Communist Party in
this epidemic in our country, does not end when the precursor products
land in Mexico or illegally cross our southern border. We must look at
every step of fentanyl's deadly supply chain.
This bipartisan legislation passed the House Foreign Affairs
Committee by voice vote earlier this year and is a needed step to
control this deadly drug.
Mr. Speaker, I urge support for this bill, and I reserve the balance
of my time.
[[Page H3912]]
House of Representatives,
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC, February 9, 2023.
Hon. Patrick McHenry,
Chairman, Committee on Financial Services
Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman McHenry: Thank you for consulting with the
Foreign Affairs Committee and agreeing to be discharged from
further consideration of H.R. 3203, the Stop Chinese Fentanyl
Act of 2023, so that the measure may proceed expeditiously to
the House floor.
I agree that your forgoing further action on this measure
does not in any way diminish or alter the jurisdiction of
your committee, or prejudice its jurisdictional prerogatives
on this measure or similar legislation in the future. I would
support your effort to seek appointment of an appropriate
number of conferees from your committee to any House-Senate
conference on this legislation.
I will seek to place our letters on H.R. 3203 into the
Congressional Record during floor consideration. I appreciate
your cooperation regarding this legislation and look forward
to continuing to work together as this measure moves through
the legislative process.
Sincerely,
Michael T. McCaul,
Chairman.
____
House of Representatives,
Committee on Financial Services,
Washington, DC, May 18, 2023.
Hon. Michael McCaul,
Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman McCaul: Thank you for consulting with the
Committee on Financial Services regarding H.R. 3203, the Stop
Chinese Fentanyl Act of 2023. I agree that the Committee
shall be discharged from further consideration of the bill so
that it may proceed expeditiously to the House Floor. The
Committee takes this action with the mutual understanding
that, by foregoing consideration of H.R. 3203 at this time,
we do not waive any jurisdiction over the subject matter
contained in this or similar legislation, and that the
Committee will be appropriately consulted and involved on
this or similar legislation as it moves forward. The
Committee also reserves the right to see appointment of an
appropriate number of conferees to any conference with the
Senate involving this or similar legislation, and we request
your support for any such request.
Finally, as you mentioned in your letter, I ask that a copy
of our exchange of letters on this bill be included in your
Committee's report to accompany the legislation, as well as
in the Congressional Record during floor consideration
thereof.
Sincerely,
Patrick McHenry,
Chairman,
Committee on Financial Services.
____
House of Representatives,
Committee on the Judiciary,
Washington, DC, June 23, 2023.
Hon. Michael McCaul,
Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman McCaul: I write regarding H.R. 3203, the Stop
Chinese Fentanyl Act of 2023. Provisions of this bill fall
within the Judiciary Committee's Rule X jurisdiction, and I
appreciate that you consulted with us on those provisions.
The Judiciary Committee agrees that it shall be discharged
from further consideration of the bill so that it may proceed
expeditiously to the House floor.
The Committee takes this action with the understanding that
forgoing further consideration of this measure does not in
any way alter the Committee's jurisdiction or waive any
future jurisdictional claim over these provisions or their
subject matter. We also reserve the right to seek appointment
of an appropriate number of conferees in the event of a
conference with the Senate involving this measure or similar
legislation.
I ask that you please include this letter in your
committee's report to accompany this legislation or insert
this letter in the Congressional Record during consideration
of H.R. 3203 on the House floor. I appreciate the cooperative
manner in which our committees have worked on this matter,
and I look forward to working collaboratively in the future
on matters of shared jurisdiction. Thank you for your
attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Jim Jordan,
Chairman.
____
House of Representatives,
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC, July 24, 2023.
Hon. Jim Jordan,
Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary,
Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Jordan: Thank you for consulting with the
Foreign Affairs Committee and agreeing to be discharged from
further consideration of H.R. 3203, the Stop Chinese Fentanyl
Act, so that the measure may proceed expeditiously to the
House floor.
I agree that your forgoing further action on this measure
does not in any way diminish or alter the jurisdiction of
your committee, or prejudice its jurisdictional prerogatives
on this measure or similar legislation in the future. I would
support your effort to seek appointment of an appropriate
number of conferees from your committee to any House-Senate
conference on this legislation.
I will seek to place our letters on this bill into the
Congressional Record during floor consideration. I appreciate
your cooperation regarding this legislation and look forward
to continuing to work together as this measure moves through
the legislative process.
Sincerely,
Michael T. McCaul,
Chairman.
Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3203, the Stop
Chinese Fentanyl Act of 2023, and I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
On both sides of the aisle, we recognize the devastating impact the
opioid crisis has had on our families and communities. There has been
too much tragic loss of life and too many families torn apart.
Challenging problems require our working together to find solutions.
Here at home, we need expanded education programs for students so
that they understand the deadly risks associated with fentanyl
consumption and better funded rehab programs to help people get clean.
We need law enforcement and prosecutors to target major trafficking
networks, but we should be careful not to repeat the excesses and
inequities that undermined the war on drugs previously.
In the international context, we need to incentivize countries to
work with us, but we also need to demonstrate there are consequences
for actions that increase the supply of these dangerous drugs with
impunity. This bill takes the latter approach. It will beef up
sanctions on major Chinese fentanyl traffickers that aid and abet
opioid traffickers. The legislation bolsters reporting requirements on
fentanyl trafficking under the national emergency declared by the
President and includes reforms to the International Economic Emergency
Powers Act.
I want to be clear: We can't sanction our way out of this fentanyl
crisis alone. Sanctions are an important tool, but we will also need
cooperation, as well.
If we want countries to limit the export of fentanyl precursors and
work with us to prevent such substances from entering our country and
poisoning our people, we will need the cooperation of law enforcement
in other nations like China and Mexico. That is a simple fact.
Tough talk and asset freezes have their role, and I support them, but
diplomacy and law enforcement cooperation are also part of the picture
we need if we are going to conquer this problem.
I thank Mr. Barr, my friend from Kentucky, and Chairman McCaul for
their advocacy on this important issue and bringing this legislation
forward.
Congress works on behalf of the American people best when we can
collaborate, when we can support each other, when we work together.
Both sides worked in good faith to get this deal done, and I salute the
gentleman from Kentucky for his leadership.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
{time} 1630
Mr. BARR. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to
close.
Again, this is a scourge that has cost way too many lives. Educating
our young people about its dangers but also cracking down on those who,
with abandon, are willing to poison our young people and damage our
country is an important step.
I support Mr. Barr's effort. I support this legislation, and I urge
my colleagues to support this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. BARR. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to
close.
I thank the gentleman from Virginia for his bipartisan support of
this important legislation. This is a bipartisan bill for good reason,
Mr. Speaker: Because China has blamed the rise in overdose deaths in
the United States and illicit fentanyl in the United States on the
United States.
The Chinese Communist Party has refused to address its role in this
crisis. While Mexico is now the principal source of illicit fentanyl
and its analogues, cartels manufacture these drugs in covert
laboratories with ingredients, precursor chemicals sourced largely from
Communist China.
China is the primary source of chemical precursors used to synthesize
fentanyl and other novel synthetic
[[Page H3913]]
opioids, and this illicit fentanyl made in Mexican labs is then
smuggled into the United States across our open and unenforced southern
border, making its way into communities and killing Americans, killing
many Americans in my home State of Kentucky.
No, Kentucky is not a border State, but Kentucky is impacted by the
fact that these Chinese precursors are making their way into China and
then smuggled across our southern border.
This is a huge problem, and we need to hold those individuals, those
Chinese Communist Party officials, accountable for this scourge, for
poisoning the American people.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to
defend the American people, to stop this scourge, and to hold the
Chinese Communist Party accountable for their role in this poison that
is pouring across our borders.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Fulcher). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Barr) that the House
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3203, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________