Overdose Deaths Reach Record High

Floor Speech

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Mr. GROTHMAN. Madam Speaker, we got horrible news yesterday; for the first time in the United States, over 100,000 people died from illegal drugs. When I got here 6 years ago, that number was 47,000. By comparison, in 12 years, only 58,000 died in the Vietnam War. Almost twice as many people die in this country every year from illegal drug overdose than died in the entire 12-year period of the Vietnam War.

Today, we look at a major bill, the Build Back Better Act, and we look at what is the effect of the Build Back Better Act on 100,000 deaths. In this bill, we are encouraging more illegal immigration; we are taking more Border Patrol agents off the border and processing young people. And finally, in this bill we are encouraging more people to come here, which inevitably means more fentanyl, more deaths.

Madam Speaker, I ask the majority party to please step back, change the bill to add a few more Border Patrol agents, and change the bill to get out the carrots that are going to encourage more fentanyl and more deaths.

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