[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 48 (Thursday, March 13, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1735-S1737]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

              HALT ALL LETHAL TRAFFICKING OF FENTANYL ACT

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 331) to amend the Controlled Substances Act with 
     respect to the scheduling of fentanyl-related substances, and 
     for other purposes.

  Pending:

       Thune (for Grassley) amendment No. 1237, of a perfecting 
     nature.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader.


                           Government Funding

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, over the last 2 months, the United States 
has confronted a bitter--a very bitter truth: The Federal Government 
has been taken over by a nihilist. Donald Trump, in 2 months, has taken 
a blowtorch to our country and wielded chaos like a weapon.
  Republicans in Congress, meanwhile, have caved to his every whim. The 
Grand Old Party has devolved into a crowd of Trump sycophants and MAGA 
radicals who want to burn everything to the ground. Look no further 
than what DOGE is doing. Now Republicans' nihilism has brought us to 
the brink of disaster.
  Unless Congress acts, the Federal Government will shut down tomorrow 
at midnight. I have said many times that there are no winners in a 
government shutdown, but there are certainly victims--the most 
vulnerable Americans who rely on Federal programs to feed their 
families, to access medical care, and to stay financially afloat.

[[Page S1736]]

Communities that depend on government services to function will suffer 
and suffer greatly.
  This week, Democrats offered a sensible way out: Fund the government 
for another month to give appropriators more time to do their jobs. 
Republicans rejected this proposal outright. Why did they reject it? 
Because Donald Trump doesn't want the appropriators to do their job; he 
wants full control over government spending. He isn't the first 
President to want this, but he is the first President to cower his 
party into submission.
  So that Republican rejection leads us to a decision. That Republican 
rejection leads us to a decision. And it is not really a decision; it 
is a Hobson's choice: Either proceed with the bill before us or risk 
Donald Trump throwing America into the chaos of a shutdown. This, in my 
view, is no choice at all.
  While the CR bill is very bad, the potential for a shutdown has 
consequences for America that are much, much worse. For sure, the 
Republican bill is a terrible option. It is not a clean CR. It is 
deeply partisan. It doesn't address far too many of this country's 
needs. But I believe allowing Donald Trump to take even much more power 
via a government shutdown is a far worse option.
  Before I explain why, let me be clear about one thing. No one on my 
side of the aisle wants a government shutdown. Members who support this 
CR do not want a government shutdown. Members who oppose this CR do not 
want a government shutdown.
  Members who oppose this CR want the Republicans to take their 
responsibilities more seriously and to negotiate spending bills that 
will address the many needs of the American people. I respect them for 
that. Unfortunately, though, this Republican Party is the party of 
Trump.
  As bad as passing the CR is, as I said, allowing Donald Trump to take 
even much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option.
  First, a shutdown would give Donald Trump and Elon Musk carte blanche 
to destroy vital government services at a significantly faster rate 
than they can right now. Under a shutdown, the Trump administration 
would have full authority to deem whole Agencies, programs, and 
personnel nonessential, furloughing staff with no promise they would 
ever be rehired. The decision on what is essential would be solely left 
to the executive branch, with nobody left at the Agencies to check 
them.
  In short, a shutdown would give Donald Trump, Elon Musk and DOGE, and 
Vought the keys to the city, State, and country.
  A shutdown would give Donald Trump the keys to the city, the State, 
and the country.
  And don't take my word for it. Musk has said aloud he wants a 
shutdown, and public reporting has shown he is already making plans to 
use the shutdown to expedite his destruction of key government programs 
and services. Musk told reporters:

       If the job is not essential or they are not doing it well, 
     they obviously shouldn't be on the public payroll.

  Many Federal employees and government experts are rightly worried 
that a temporary shutdown could lead to permanent cuts.
  Second, if we enter a shutdown, congressional Republicans would 
weaponize their majorities to cherry-pick which parts of the government 
to reopen. In a protracted shutdown, House and Senate Republicans would 
pursue a strategy of bringing bills to the floor to reopen only their 
favorite departments and Agencies, while leaving other vital services 
that they don't like to languish.
  Third, a shutdown is not a political game. Shutdown means real pain 
for American families.
  For example, veterans services: I believe a shutdown could cause 
regional VA offices to reduce staff, delay benefit processing, and 
curtail mental health services, abandoning veterans who earned and 
depended on those resources.
  Social Security and seniors: I believe a shutdown could green-light 
Trump to slash administrative staff at Social Security offices, 
delaying new applications and benefit adjustments and forcing seniors 
to wait even longer for the benefits they earned.
  Justice and courts: Extremely troubling, I believe. A shutdown could 
stall Federal court cases, one of the best redoubts against Trump's 
lawlessness and could require furloughing critical staff at the courts, 
denying victims and defendants alike their day in court, dragging out 
appeals, and clogging the justice system for months or even years.
  This administration has shown an unfathomable willingness to 
sacrifice American families and their well-being to advance their own 
political agenda. A shutdown positions them to do this on overdrive.
  Finally, there is one more reason I oppose a shutdown. President 
Trump and Republican leaders would like nothing more than to pull us 
into the mud of a protracted government shutdown. For Donald Trump, a 
shutdown would be a gift. It would be the best distraction he could ask 
for from his awful agenda.
  Right now, Donald Trump owns the chaos in the government; he owns the 
chaos in the stock market; he owns the damage happening to our economy 
from one end of the country to the other. The stock market is crashing; 
consumer confidence is plummeting. Donald Trump is hoping for a 
shutdown because it will distract from his true agenda of delivering 
massive cuts to the rich paid for on the backs of American families.
  He wants to gut Social Security, hollow out Medicaid, slap taxes on 
consumer goods through his reckless trade wars. In a shutdown, we would 
be busy fighting with Republicans over which Agencies to reopen, which 
to keep closed--instead of debating the damage Donald Trump's agenda is 
causing the American people.
  Mr. President, I believe it is my job to make the best choice for the 
country, to minimize the harms to the American people. Therefore, I 
will vote to keep the government open and not shut it down. There is 
nobody in the world--nobody--who wants to shut the government down more 
than Donald Trump and more than Elon Musk. We should not give it to 
them.
  And make no mistake: Democrats will continue to fight what Donald 
Trump is doing. Everything that Trump, Musk, and Republicans have done 
so far has a clear goal: again, cutting taxes for billionaires, 
eviscerate Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
  This is the fight that matters most and the fight we must focus on--
all the chaos we have seen, all the lawlessness, all the grift and 
corrupt behavior. It is all about rigging the system in favor of the 
ultrawealthy at the expense of working Americans. This is the fight the 
American people need to see. This is the fight that Democrats will win. 
A shutdown will be a costly distraction from this all-important fight.

  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.


                       Tribute to Lyra Baker Boyd

  Mrs. BRITT. Mr. President, today I rise to celebrate the birthday of 
someone very special: my grandmother Lyra Baker Boyd, who I call MaMa.
  Today, she turns 100 years old. She is such an incredible woman. I 
think about the memories of her in my lifetime. I think about the 
impact she has had on me and my cousins, on people all around her who 
have the honor of knowing her.
  Some of my earliest memories are that of her kindness and gentleness, 
her teaching me how to treat others. I remember sitting at her kitchen 
table as my grandfather was going over different Bible verses before 
church on Sunday morning. She would make oatmeal. We would get 
blueberries out of her garden. She would make scrambled eggs, pouring 
milk in them to make them go a little bit further; making sure we used 
our best manners at the table and then sending us off to conquer the 
day.
  There is no doubt she had a passion for leaving everyone and 
everyplace that she encountered better as a result of her. Those values 
that she has, those values of service, they stirred in her so early in 
her life.
  MaMa graduated high school at the height of the Second World War. She 
dreamed of serving our country overseas. As we know, women weren't 
allowed to enlist in combat roles at that time, so she embarked on a 
different pathway to serve. She became a nurse. It was 1943 when she 
enrolled at what was then the Hillman Hospital Training School for 
Nurses. It later became

[[Page S1737]]

Jefferson-Hillman, and it is now right at the center of the University 
of Alabama at Birmingham Medical Campus.
  MaMa was ready to ship out to Europe to tend to our wounded soldiers, 
but V-Day actually came right before she graduated. Still wanting to 
serve her fellow Americans in some way, she moved to Enterprise, AL--I 
am proud to call that my hometown--and she began her 40-year nursing 
career.
  In the early fifties, during the Korean war, her husband--my PaPa, as 
I call him--was among the brave soldiers defending our ally from 
communist invasion. MaMa and her sisters moved to Seattle during the 
time. She moved to live with her sister there, and she worked as a 
registered nurse.
  During her time in the Pacific Northwest, she never lost her southern 
roots. Her colleagues even called her ``Magnolia.'' They said it was 
clear that she held Alabama dear. Ultimately, she and PaPa made their 
way back down to the Yellowhammer State, as MaMa worked as a labor and 
delivery nurse until she retired.
  Both she and PaPa's life are emblematic of their generation. Rooted 
in unselfishness, unselfish service to our great country, they 
personified what JFK said:

       Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can 
     do for your country.

  MaMa helped teach that to my entire family. She wanted us to know 
that life wasn't always about us. She makes sure, in every 
conversation, that we understand that there is a greater purpose and a 
higher calling to which we must answer and a service to which we must 
all work. We all have a responsibility to put our God, our family, our 
friends, and our country above our own personal interest. And there is 
nobody who embodies that better than my grandmother.
  That service to our communities and our Nation can take many shapes 
and forms. For both of my grandfathers, it was military service. For 
others in my family, it has been protecting their fellow Americans as 
law enforcement officers and firefighters. For me, it is the honor to 
stand and serve in this body. And for MaMa, it was helping bring life 
into this world, helping new moms, and nursing people back from 
sickness.
  Above all, what MaMa has taught me is that you must use your post, 
whatever it is in life, to make a difference in the lives around you. 
We are all called to serve. We are all called to be in the arena. 
Everyone's service is different, but no one's is less important. It is 
about striving to do better, to be better, and to leave this world 
better than we found it.
  So, thank you, MaMa, for being a guiding light throughout the course 
of my life. On behalf of my aunts and uncles, cousins, and MaMa's 
family and friends, we say, ``Happy 100th birthday.'' We love you 
dearly, MaMa.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana.
  (The remarks of Mr. Cassidy pertaining to the introduction of S. 1015 
are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills 
and Joint Resolutions.'')


                           HALT Fentanyl Act

  Mr. CASSIDY. Mr. President, 74,000 people died of fentanyl and 
fentanyl analogs in 2023. Everyone in this Chamber and everyone 
watching from home knows of someone who has died of a fentanyl 
overdose. If you watched the Super Bowl, 74,000 is more people than 
were in the New Orleans Superdome.
  Now, they didn't just occur in a border State or in my State or in 
the Presiding Officer's State; they occurred across the country. Every 
State is a border State when it comes to fentanyl flooding our country. 
Everyone has felt the effect of the 50,000 pounds of fentanyl that has 
poured across the open southern border or through the mail over the 
last couple of years. Fifty thousand pounds is enough to produce over 2 
billion lethal doses--enough to kill everyone in the country six times 
over.
  I was just told by a friend about the DEA Museum just outside of 
Washington, DC. It has a new exhibit, the ``Faces of Fentanyl.'' You 
see walls covered with thousands of photographs of Americans--many of 
them young--who have died from an overdose. When you see the pictures 
on these walls, you can't see them, but you know the presence of 
parents, brothers, sisters, friends, cousins, aunts, and uncles who 
were devastated when that person on the wall died, when they heard the 
news that their loved one had bought a pill online or from somebody 
they happened to know. Perhaps they thought it was something else or 
perhaps they didn't know the potency. Nonetheless, when they took it, 
they died.
  The pain of this for so many people is why I urge my colleagues to 
join me in passing the HALT Fentanyl Act--to help law enforcement stop 
the criminals who are poisoning our fellow Americans.
  What does the HALT Fentanyl Act do? It makes permanent the schedule I 
classification of fentanyl and fentanyl analogs. What is a fentanyl 
analog? I am a doctor, so I am going to speak a little bit like a 
doctor. An analog is fentanyl, which is illegal except they change it 
just enough so that, when they change it, technically, it would not be 
illegal. Yes, it looks like fentanyl; it addicts like fentanyl; it can 
kill like fentanyl. Yet, because of a minor modification, it is not 
actually fentanyl, but it still has the same terrible, addictive, 
deadly effect of the actual thing. It still has the ability to take our 
loved ones from us.
  So how do we stop that? We say that whether it was fentanyl or a 
fentanyl analog, it is banned and that if you are illegally in 
possession of this or if you are selling it to other people, then law 
enforcement has the right to arrest you.
  This bill makes the schedule I classification--schedule I, meaning it 
is illegal to have--permanent.
  Aside from closing the loophole that criminals use to skirt around 
the law, we also strengthen the penalty for those who possess the 
fentanyl analog and, again, make it easier for law enforcement to 
prosecute.
  This isn't controversial; this is bipartisan. The need is there. We 
have been doing this on a temporary basis, but now we are going to make 
it permanent. Law enforcement will keep the most vital tool they have 
to hold fentanyl dealers accountable and to go after criminals.
  The bill also makes it easier to research fentanyl analogs to 
determine if they actually have a medical use. It is possible that one 
of these analogs is better than the real thing, and fentanyl does have, 
when prescribed by a physician appropriately, a valid medical use, so 
maybe one of these analogs is useful. We allow for research into that. 
At the same time, we give law enforcement the ability to prosecute if 
it is used for things such as to create an addiction.
  President Trump said he would sign this if we passed it. We are 
working--I am working--to get this bill to his desk.
  I would like to thank my colleague from Iowa, Senator Grassley, the 
Judiciary Committee chairman, for moving this bill through his 
committee so quickly and thank the majority leader for bringing this 
bill up for a vote. I also want to thank my colleague from Wisconsin, 
Ron Johnson, for his work on this issue. I also thank Martin Heinrich 
from New Mexico, who has really cared about this issue, and Senator 
Heinrich has pushed this on a bipartisan basis.
  The longer we wait, the more it emboldens drug cartels, people in 
China who either send supplies to Mexico or mail the fentanyl itself 
through the mail, and other criminals who look to exploit our 
communities.
  We can take a concrete step in fighting the opioid crisis with the 
HALT Fentanyl Act. Republicans are united. This is a bipartisan bill. 
The country is united. Let's bring that 74,000 fentanyl death toll down 
to zero.
  I will never yield in this fight, but for now, I do yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Moody). The majority leader.

                          ____________________