Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the time.

Mr. Speaker, this is not the answer to the problem. This problem is not going to be solved by only putting people in jail and throwing away the key. I will tell you there are people who are purveyors of this illicit fentanyl that deserve to be put in jail and throw away the key. That is what we have to do to people that are selling this poison to children.

Congress has people that testify before our committee that their child took Adderall before a test, and it was laced with fentanyl. They were poisoned. It is not that they had addiction issues. It is that they are poisoning our communities.

There are people selling this. They are purveying it, creating it, growing it, and creating it chemically.

What the Energy and Commerce Committee is doing, today we are doing the HALT Fentanyl Act to address the criminal justice side of it. However, my friend from New Jersey is correct, what also has to be addressed are the issues affecting people that are suffering from substance use disorder. We did that in the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act of 2025 where we had over, I think, 350 votes on the floor. It was broadly bipartisan on the floor of the House. We are committed to ensuring that people have access to treatment. We are equally committed to ensuring that people that are purveying this poison on our communities, our cities, bringing it across the border, deserve to have their day in court, and deserve to answer to justice. If it be the case that these are the people poisoning our children, they should be put in jail and the key thrown away. Our committee will not apologize for that.

It takes an all-of-the-above approach for this issue, and we are willing to do an all-of-the-above approach. I ask my colleagues to support this bill. It is extremely important. The DEA alone has said that they support this, and it is time we do it.

Mr. Speaker, I ask this body to support it.

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