[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 48 (Thursday, March 13, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S1729]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           HALT Fentanyl Act

  Mr. BUDD. Mr. President, just last week in my home State of North 
Carolina, narcotics investigators from the Iredell County Sheriff's 
Office and the Gaston Police Department seized 5 pounds of fentanyl 
that was in possession of an illegal alien. It was enough to kill over 
a million people. That is nothing short of a weapon of mass 
destruction.
  The reality is that is not just a public health crisis. It is a 
nightmare that is destroying families, shattering communities, and 
devastating our country.
  On average, nine North Carolinians die every single day from fentanyl 
overdoses. Every day, fentanyl claims nearly 200 lives across our 
country. Just last year, this silent killer took more than 70,000 
Americans.
  But they are not just numbers. These are sons and daughters. These 
are parents and siblings. These are our friends and our neighbors. 
These are people who should be living full, meaningful lives but, 
instead, have become statistics.
  Let's put this into perspective. Just 2 milligrams of fentanyl 
similar to 7 grains of salt is enough to kill a person. If it is a 
sugar packet and you pour it in your morning coffee and it were to be 
filled with fentanyl, it could take the lives of 500 people--the 
quantity equal to a sugar packet. Now, if it was a standard 4-pound bag 
of granulated sugar--the kind we all have in our pantries--if it were 
filled with fentanyl, it would wipe out 905,000 individuals.
  This deadly drug is flooding our communities, and it is not by 
accident. When I talk to law enforcement across all 100 counties in 
North Carolina, I repeatedly hear the same alarming message: Every 
single county is a border county. North Carolina is roughly 1,000 miles 
from the southern border, yet the fentanyl pouring into our country 
knows no distance and no boundaries.
  This is a direct consequence of the Biden administration's reckless 
open border policies that allowed the drug cartels to exploit our 
immigration system and to flood our communities with illegal drugs. 
President Trump, however, is taking necessary steps to restore our 
border, restore order, and dismantle the criminal networks profiting 
off of human suffering.
  But the consequences of President Biden's open borders and lack of 
action to mitigate the fentanyl crisis in our country remain the deadly 
reality facing our communities every day. This was not just a failure 
of policy by the previous administration. It was a betrayal of the 
American people to put political agendas over our public safety.
  Even in the face of these staggering losses, Democrats continue to 
block bipartisan efforts to dismantle the criminal networks fueling the 
crisis. They refuse to support measures that would cut off the supply, 
crack down on traffickers, and strengthen our border security.
  I ask my colleagues: How many more lives are you willing to sacrifice 
before standing up and saying, ``Enough''? We can't afford to turn a 
blind eye to the sobering reality and traumatic consequences of this 
crisis. We need to make our streets safer, and we need to do it right 
now.
  That is why I proudly stand with my colleague Senator Cassidy in 
supporting the HALT Fentanyl Act, a commonsense bipartisan legislation 
that will give law enforcement the tools they need to close loopholes 
and stop criminals from evading the law by simply doing two things: 
first, permanently classifying fentanyl and related substances under 
schedule I and, second, increasing the sentences for fentanyl 
traffickers.
  This bill has already passed the House with strong bipartisan 
support, and now it is time for the Senate to do the same. Let's secure 
our streets. Let's stop the flow of fentanyl. Let's protect the 
American people, and let's do it before another innocent life is lost.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.