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Floor Speech
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Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, today is a good day for the Senate and a good day for the American people. The Senate will soon pass a bill that is entitled ``HALT Fentanyl Act.'' The House is expected to take the measure up very soon and send it to President Trump, who is waiting with pen in hand to enact one of his campaign promises.
The HALT Fentanyl Act permanently schedules these deadly substances that have been the main driver of overdose deaths in the United States. No longer does the Drug Enforcement Agency need to play this game of Whac-A-Mole every time a cartel develops a new fentanyl knockoff. In other words, today, a fentanyl knockoff might be illegal, and then they change the chemical makeup of it, and it becomes legal. It is a nightmare for law enforcement.
So no longer will Congress be kicking the can down the road with temporary extensions. We have had many, many extensions over the last several years to keep fentanyl scheduled and its analogs scheduled in I. It also revises policies to research schedule I substances. These are changes the research community has welcomed.
Drug overdoses in the United States have exploded to the highest levels we have ever seen, and, of course, this is thanks to fentanyl and fentanyl knockoffs. The Drug Enforcement Agency has called fentanyl and its knockoffs the ``deadliest drug threat the United States has ever faced.''
Since 2016, I have been raising the alarm on deadly synthetic drugs like fentanyl. As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I held a hearing on these substances and the need to stay ahead of the peddlers of this poison. Sadly, it has taken us 9 long years to get to permanently scheduling these deadly knockoffs.
Of course, we thank each of the previous Congresses that, on a temporary basis, extended the scheduling of fentanyl and fentanyl knockoffs, but this bipartisan HALT Fentanyl Act takes care of this by making it permanent.
Senators Cassidy, Heinrich, and Johnson were very instrumental in this effort. Their interest in permanently scheduling fentanyl knockoffs inspired the Senate to move this bill to the floor. Republican leadership was also crucial in prioritizing this bill for the floor and helping us navigate the floor process.
Credit is also due to our House colleagues--Representative Griffith, Chairman Guthrie, and now retired Chairwoman McMorris Rodgers--who led and championed the HALT Fentanyl Act on the House side.
I would also like to thank Dr. Tim Westlake, who came up with the temporary scheduling structure that we have been using since the year 2018. He has testified before my committee and before the Congress on numerous occasions, and I thank him for his hard work and unflappable dedication.
So, in the end, this campaign earned the support of nearly every major law enforcement organization and also several medical associations and research associations supporting the research component of this bill.
Most importantly, we must say thanks to the countless families organized over a long period of time across the country that have lost loved ones to fentanyl poisoning and have not given up on this type of legislation to make permanent the scheduling.
I want to thank my Senate staff who helped make this possible, especially Colleen Bloss and Michael Perkins, who spearheaded this effort for me and all the committee members. Together, we have taken steps to open the doors of research to permanently schedule the deadliest substance the United States has ever faced and to send a clear message that Congress is willing and ready to act. Together, we have taken an important step to live up to our commitment to our constituents and to the loved ones lost to put them first and to serve them.
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