[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 49 (Friday, March 14, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S1775]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           HALT FENTANYL ACT

 Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, I voted today against final 
passage of the HALT Fentanyl Act because of the unintended consequences 
that could have been corrected by amendments that were blocked by the 
majority. Our Nation and my State of Maryland are experiencing a crisis 
with synthetic opioids like fentanyl and related drugs, and I strongly 
support action to combat drug trafficking and prevent overdoses. We 
need public health solutions that will help American families and our 
communities, but instead, the bill before us could lead to harmful 
unintended consequences, including limiting the potential for less 
addictive pain therapies and treatments like Naloxone that could 
prevent and reverse overdose. It also expands mandatory minimums, which 
increase incarceration but do not reduce crime, and applies them to a 
broad class of drugs regardless of their actual physiological effects, 
so that someone could be incarcerated for a decade or more for drugs 
that are effectively harmless.
  My colleagues Senators Booker and Warnock put forward amendments to 
correct flaws in the bill, and Senator Hassan filed an amendment to 
address substance use disorders and prevent overdose. However, because 
those amendments were blocked, I could not support passage of this 
legislation. I hope we can take future action to address the public 
health opioid and fentanyl crisis and that my colleagues who claim to 
care about this issue do not slash dollars for Medicaid and substance 
use disorder treatment programs that are a lifeline to so many American 
families.

                          ____________________