Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 93, I call up the bill (H.R. 27) to amend the Controlled Substances Act with respect to the scheduling of fentanyl-related substances, and for other purposes.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

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Mr. GUTHRIE. 27.

Mr. Speaker, illicit fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances remain one of the greatest health threats this Nation faces. That is why both Congress and the Trump administration are working to keep fentanyl out of our communities across the country.

What we know about these lethal substances is that they are largely created with chemicals sourced from China and trafficked into our country and communities by Mexican drug cartels.

Part of making this Nation safer and more secure is empowering law enforcement with the tools necessary to prosecute those who traffic this poison into our communities. The HALT Fentanyl Act plays an important role in that objective by permanently placing fentanyl- related substances into schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act so law enforcement can crack down on drug traffickers. This will help save lives.

Last Congress, this bill passed the House with 289 votes, and I am hopeful for a robust vote today. I am confident this bill can pass the Senate and be signed into law.

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Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I just want to note that the bill before us today schedules illicit fentanyl. We had testimony to say this will save lives. That is the vote before us today. Hopefully my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will vote for it.

We can talk about criminal justice reform, but the people who are putting the poison into our cities and our children deserve to go to jail.

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Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, we are going to work on the SUPPORT Act, but the vote before us today that people are going to put their names to, a yes or no: Do we want to make illegal derivatives of fentanyl produced and conceived in China sent to Mexico and across our border to kill our people?

That is what the vote is going to be today.

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Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the comments.

Mr. Speaker, I just will say that, if someone is trafficking in illicit fentanyl, they belong in jail. I understand the argument that people who are addicted need help and support, but if someone is trafficking in illicit fentanyl, they belong in jail. If someone is trafficking in a fentanyl derivative that is not scheduled, they don't go to jail. That is what we are here to do today.

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Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, derivatives of illicit fentanyl have to be scheduled for traffickers to be prosecuted.

Mr. Speaker, speaking as the primary sponsor on the Republican side of the bipartisan bill, the SUPPORT Act, we do need treatment. We have worked on treatment. We have record treatment that has happened since the SUPPORT Act first passed, and we will work on it again this Congress.

We know it is going to expire by the end of March. What is happening is the scheduling of illicit fentanyl. What that means is, fentanyl is scheduled. What the people in China do who send their recipes for fentanyl to Mexico to be manufactured and sent across the border is if they could slightly change the molecule just enough that it is no longer fentanyl, it is no longer scheduled.

Our police officers have to find it and get it tested. Once they get it tested, they have to go back and say, okay, that is fentanyl. It is deadly. Let's go to Congress and get Congress to put that on the schedule. Then we put that on the schedule. Then they start to process and slightly change it again.

That is the reason we put this in an emergency order to begin with. That is why we want to put it in permanently because we know that it is effective.

We have had testimony to say that it is effective. We had my friend from New York (Ms. Gillen) come and say that she read that the DEA says this will save lives. Other groups say this will save lives. We have testimony that this will save lives. There is so much we need to do in helping people with their substance use disorders and struggles. There is no doubt there is a lot we need to do.

What we need to do today, what we are going to put our name on and record our vote on, yes or no, is: Do we believe that derivatives of fentanyl that are being trafficked from China to Mexico across our border, do we believe that should be schedule I and give the tools to our law enforcement officers to fight it?

That is what we are voting on today. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bill. We had Mr. Cullen from Pennsylvania testify this morning in a hearing on the Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee for Health, who lost his son.

We all know people who suffer from this. We need to keep up the fight. This is important for us to do, and I encourage a ``yes'' vote.

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Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

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Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, we know that if this emergency declaration expires, that illicit fentanyl will no longer be scheduled and individuals will no longer be subject to arrest and prosecution.

I don't believe we need to study this. That is why we have the emergency in place because of the problem. Putting this off until a study comes back, people are going to die. I don't think we need to certify that people are going to die. I think that is self-evident.

Mr. Speaker, I urge opposition to this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. GUTHRIE. Boebert).

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Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, all I will say is that we know, and we have had testimony. We have had testimony from so many people who have come before our committee. We know that if we have illicit fentanyl that is no longer illegal, it is not going to save lives. It is going to cost lives.

We know this emergency order is expiring at the end of March. This needs to be done. It has to go to the Senate. Somebody mentioned earlier on the other side that it lingered in the Senate. We now have a Senate that will take this up. We have a President that will sign it.

We need to get this done so we can protect children and not delay this until we have another study when we know what is going on in our neighborhoods, our homes, our communities, and our country.

Mr. Speaker, I urge the defeat of this amendment and support the underlying bill. I yield back the balance of my time.

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