[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 45 (Tuesday, March 11, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1641-S1642]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           HALT Fentanyl Act

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, Zach Didier was a good student, an athlete, 
and a musician. He was an Eagle Scout, star of the school play, and he 
was hoping to attend Stanford University. But 2 days after Christmas, 
in 2020, Zach's dad found him dead in his bedroom of fentanyl 
poisoning. He was 17.
  Zach and his friends had gone to the mall to meet a drug dealer they 
had found through social media. He bought what he thought was Percocet, 
but it wasn't. The counterfeit pills he bought contained fentanyl, and 
what was a bad decision became deadly.
  Zach was one of the more than 90,000 Americans who died of an 
overdose in 2020, many of those deaths from fentanyl poisoning. He was 
one of countless victims of fake pills being peddled on our streets, 
pills that too often find their way into the hands of young people and 
steal their futures.
  Courage Minten's is another tragic story. Adopted from Ghana, Courage 
was pursuing his dream of becoming an airline pilot. He had attended 
flight school and interviewed for a job, just days before he died, at 
age 23. Courage's parents found him on their couch after a night out 
with friends, seemingly asleep, until he stopped breathing. As they 
later found out, Courage had taken a pill with two times the lethal 
dose of fentanyl in it.
  Ashley Romero, a 32-year-old mother, took half of what she thought 
was a

[[Page S1642]]

painkiller, but that half a pill contained a deadly dose of fentanyl. 
The dealer who had supplied Ashley's boyfriend with the pill that took 
her life is believed to have sold pills that killed several other 
people.
  One of those individuals was Jonathan Ellington. Jonathan had become 
addicted to OxyContin when it was prescribed to him for a high school 
soccer injury. He got clean and stayed clean for about a decade, until 
another injury and another prescription got him back on it. When his 
prescription ran out, he bought some pills from an acquaintance. It 
only took one pill with a lethal dose of fentanyl to take Jonathan's 
life.
  Mr. President, these are just a few of the stories that families have 
shared with the Judiciary Committee in support of the HALT Fentanyl 
Act. Unfortunately, there are many more like them; lives lost, futures 
destroyed, families changed forever.
  One in three Americans know someone who has died of a drug overdose. 
We are losing young people, teenagers, young parents, and people with 
bright lives ahead of them. When the Trump administration temporarily 
classified all fentanyl analogs as schedule I substances, law 
enforcement gained a critical tool to combat fentanyl and go after 
people who are bringing this poison into the United States.
  Congress has extended this temporary classification several times 
because it works. Now we need to make it permanent by passing the HALT 
Fentanyl Act.
  I was very pleased at the strong bipartisan vote this bill received 
last Thursday, and I hope the vote on final passage will be equally 
robust.
  As I said, classifying all fentanyl analogs as schedule I substances 
gives law enforcement a critical tool to go after the criminals 
bringing this poison into our country and selling it on our streets, 
and it joins other efforts to end the fentanyl crisis in our country.
  President Trump is taking significant steps to halt the supply of 
drugs flowing across our borders. Senator Blackburn has done great work 
bringing attention to the role of social media, which is often the link 
between teenagers and drug dealers. And the Senate will continue 
working to stop fentanyl from taking more American lives.
  Fentanyl has caused too many tragedies. I am grateful to the families 
who have lost loved ones to this deadly drug for sharing their stories. 
The HALT Fentanyl Act is moving forward due in no small part to their 
support.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.