Unanimous Consent Objection

Floor Speech

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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I am announcing my intention to object to any unanimous consent request to proceed to S. 1080, the Cooper Davis Act.

There is no question that there is a fentanyl epidemic in the United States. However, this bill fails to offer serious solutions to this epidemic. Instead, it would mandate that platforms scan their users' communications for anything that could be interpreted as being about selling or using drugs. Given this country's experience with the failed ``War on Drugs'' it is easy to predict that communities of color will disproportionately have their conversations surveilled and referred for prosecutions, which is why it is opposed by civil rights groups, including the ACLU, NAACP and Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Further, forcing a platform to decide what represents a drug transaction means that lots of innocent people will be referred for investigation and prosecution. Finally, the reporting structure of this legislation is likely to produce large numbers of meritless referrals to the Drug Enforcement Administration and do little to address the real causes of the fentanyl epidemic or protect vulnerable communities.

Given these concerns, I will object to any unanimous consent request in relation to this legislation.

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