[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 24 (Wednesday, February 5, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S610-S611]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Fentanyl
Mrs. BRITT. Mr. President, on April 1, 2020, U.S. Marine Corps
veteran Jaime Puerta lost his 16-year-old son Daniel.
That dark day, Jaime found Daniel lying on his bed nonresponsive,
ultimately seeing what looked like to be a half tablet of oxycodone on
his dresser. Paramedics arrived and tried their best, but Daniel's
brain had gone too long without oxygen. Five days later, Daniel's
parents had to make an unimaginably difficult decision to take him off
of life support.
Soon after, Jaime got a call from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's
Office. He ultimately learned that pill was not an oxycodone pill. It
was actually fentanyl made to look exactly like a pharmaceutical-grade
oxycodone. That is what killed Daniel.
My colleagues on the Senate Judiciary Committee and I heard,
yesterday, Jaime's story. We heard the passion in his voice. You could
still feel the hurt. The name of this hearing was ``The Poisoning of
America.''
We not only heard his story; we also heard of Bridgette Norring,
whose son Devin lost his life to fentanyl poisoning the same week that
Daniel died at the age of 19.
Devin had suffered from blackout migraines and dental pain to the
point that he sought black-market prescription drugs--opioids--on
Snapchat. This was the same platform where Daniel found the counterfeit
pill that killed him.
On April 4, 2020, Devin Norring took what he thought was a Percocet.
His younger brother Caden, just 14 at the time, found him in his
bedroom the next morning. That Percocet was actually a counterfeit pill
containing a lethal dose of fentanyl.
Daniel and Devin's stories and what their families have been through
are nothing less than heartbreaking, and it exemplifies what we are
going through as a Nation--a national nightmare.
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I would like to thank them for sharing their stories and the courage
they have shown in the face of gut-wrenching tragedy.
As a mom of two kids, what happened to Daniel and Devon is beyond a
mother's worst nightmare. It is a nightmare that unfortunately is
playing out every day across the United States of America, and it is
long past time for America to wake up. It is long past time for
Congress to act and ensure that no other family has to experience
losses like the ones that I have just discussed.
The CDC has, over the past few years, consistently shown that drug
overdoses and poisonings are the No. 1 cause of death for Americans
between the ages of 18 and 45. Nearly 70 percent of those overdose
deaths in 2022 were from fentanyl or other synthetic opioids. Twenty-
two thousand pounds of fentanyl was seized at America's ports of entry
between October 2023 and October 2024. It is more than 1 billion lethal
doses. It could kill everyone residing in this country three times
over.
It is 5 to 10 percent of what they say is actually coming into our
country. You heard me right. They think there is 90 to 95 percent of
fentanyl that is entering our Nation every year and we have no idea.
For reference--it may be hard to picture--but fentanyl is 100 times
more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin. That
means 2 milligrams of fentanyl, the size of 5 grains of sand, can be
fatal. Meanwhile, it takes 250 milligrams of morphine or 200 milligrams
of heroin for a fatal dose. Fentanyl is 100 times deadlier than heroin.
That is the scope of what we are dealing with.
So why are we not doing something about it in this Chamber? According
to the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General,
our government has failed to prevent the flow of fentanyl in our
country in far too many ways. According to the Homeland Security OIG,
screening of participants in the Free and Secure Trade Program, which
expedites processing for carriers and commercial drivers thought to be
low risk, is far too lax.
In February 2021, the OIG reported, Customs and Border Protections
had deployed just over a quarter of the surveillance and subterranean
technology solutions President Trump ordered 4 years prior. And in
2023, a vast majority of CBP employees said their field locations,
which means the points of entry into the United States, were not
adequately prepared or staffed.
President Trump has worked to target the Mexican cartels and
transnational narcotics trafficking. He directed Defense Secretary Pete
Hegseth to present a plan assigning our Armed Forces to the mission of
sealing our border and repelling the drug trade.
I heard Pete the other day discuss it. Secretary Hegseth said: My
generation went and fought diligently to secure other countries'
borders. This generation has the opportunity to secure ours.
Ultimately, President Trump reached an agreement with the Mexican
President--10,000 Mexican soldiers placed at the U.S.-Mexico border to
stop the flow of fentanyl and illegal migrants into our Nation. And
President Trump pushed the Canadian Prime Minister to take significant
action to stop the flow of fentanyl across our northern border.
These are all steps in the right direction. And as chair of the
Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, I will work to make sure
the people tasked with protecting the public from this poison have the
resources they need to help.
But what yesterday's hearing made clear is that we have more to do.
Last Congress, I cosponsored Senator John Kennedy's Fairness in
Fentanyl Sentencing Act, and I am proud to be a cosponsor once again
this Congress. That bill would change the quantity thresholds
triggering mandatory minimum prison sentences for fentanyl
distribution. It would also direct the U.S. Postal Service to increase
its chemical screening and dedicate more personnel to the task of
interdicting fentanyl and other illegal substances imported into our
country.
Our children's lives are worth it. We must do more now.
Additionally, last Congress, the House passed the HALT Fentanyl Act.
It passed in an overwhelmingly bipartisan fashion. I am proud to
support it here in the Senate. Leading it is Senator Chuck Grassley,
Bill Cassidy, and Martin Heinrich. While I cosponsored it last time, I
am proud to cosponsor it again this Congress.
This bill takes the necessary steps of placing fentanyl-related
substances under schedule I classification and ensuring law enforcement
has the tools necessary to actually end this epidemic.
On January 20, it was a new day in America when President Trump was
sworn in. It was a new day in the Senate when we passed the Laken Riley
Act, which President Trump signed into law last week. Congress can get
this done. Republican majorities in both Chambers have proven we can
and will lead the way and are willing to work diligently with our
colleagues across the aisle to ensure that happens.
No doubt, we have shown that we mean business. We made promises to
the American people that we would work to protect them, and we will
keep that promise. We delivered on our promise that we would not
tolerate criminal illegal aliens roaming free in our country. Now we
need to deliver for the American people once again.
Mr. President, the era of open borders is over. The era of allowing
deadly fentanyl to flow into our country is over. The American people
need us to act now, and that is exactly what we are doing. We are going
to clean up our streets. We are going to protect our families. We are
going to secure our borders. And we are going to ensure that our
children actually have the opportunity to live their American dream.
Let's make America safe again, and let's continue to talk about this
issue. Our kids and their safety should come first.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.