The Biden Crises

Floor Speech

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Mr. LATTA. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and hosting this Special Order, it is so important.

Madam Speaker, I rise to bring needed attention to the ongoing overdose crisis in our country that is ruthlessly taking lives. I can't speak on this without focusing on a major culprit: fentanyl. The CDC recently announced 101,263--again, 101,263--Americans died of drug overdoses during a 12-month period ending June 2021. The number of deaths is going up, not down.

The vast majority of these preventable deaths were caused by fentanyl and illicit fentanyl analogs, which are 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. From October 2020 to September 2021, Customs and Border Patrol seized 11,201 pounds of fentanyl, which is enough to kill 2.5 million, or the entire United States population seven times over. This is what they were able to interdict. We don't know how much more got into the country.

Fentanyl is temporarily scheduled as a Schedule I drug, but that is set to expire in just a few weeks on February 18. Congress must act to provide a permanent solution.

That is why I am co-leading legislation with my friend, the gentleman from the Ninth District of Virginia. Our bill, the HALT Fentanyl Act, would permanently schedule fentanyl-related substances as a Schedule I and cut red tape enabling researchers to continue to study Schedule I substances for the purposes of identifying any possible medical benefits.

Let's put politics aside and do what is right. I encourage all of my colleagues to cosponsor this legislation and help us provide immediate assistance to those in need. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for hosting tonight.

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