Halt Fentanyl Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, later today, the Senate will vote on passage of the HALT Fentanyl Act. Opioid addiction has had a devastating impact on communities all across the country.

We have an overdose crisis in the United States, and we should be doing everything possible to combat it. In just a decade, fentanyl has emerged as the deadliest drug in American history. All it takes is 2 milligrams--that is a fraction of the size of a penny--to cause an overdose.

But we must do more than simply pass this bill. Since fentanyl- related substances were originally scheduled by the DEA, in 2018, Congress has never allowed this authority to expire. So, by passing this bill, we are merely maintaining the status quo. We must also address how this poison gets into the hands of the most vulnerable: our children. Too often, fentanyl is peddled in the open on some of the world's largest social media platforms.

When the Senate Judiciary Committee marked up the HALT Fentanyl Act last month, I filed amendments that would finally hold these companies accountable and demand they put safeguards in place to protect our children. One of my amendments would have repealed the liability shield that Congress granted Big Tech nearly 30 years ago, known as section 230.

At that markup, Chairman Grassley agreed to work with me to finally-- finally--allow these companies to be sued by their victims' families so they can be held accountable in a court of law. I hope the full Senate will join us in this effort. Enough teens have died due to Big Tech's deliberate indifference.

If we are going to stem the fentanyl crisis, we also must acknowledge the role the United States has played in arming cartels to the teeth-- sending hundreds of thousands of firearms south in an ``iron river''-- and facilitating the cartels' use of violence to traffic fentanyl into the U.S. That is why I filed my Stop Arming Cartels Act as an amendment to this bill.

The HALT Fentanyl Act fails to account for the role that America's lax gun laws play in arming and enabling drug cartels to traffic fentanyl. Consider this: An estimated 200,000 to 500,000 American-made guns are trafficked into Mexico annually. A study by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives found that 70 percent of crime guns recovered in Mexico from 2014-2018 and submitted for tracing were from the United States.

My Stop Arming Cartels Act would prohibit future manufacture, sale, and possession of .50-caliber rifles--a particularly powerful weapon favored by Mexican drug cartels. These high-caliber weapons smuggled from the United States have allowed cartels to shoot down police helicopters, attack military convoys, and undercut public faith in law and order. My bill would also allow victims of gun violence to sue manufacturers and dealers who engage in firearm transactions prohibited under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act.

We also must provide local and Federal law enforcement with the resources they need to fight against the highly armed cartels.

These Agencies are on the frontlines protecting our communities from fentanyl and other opioids. But detection is getting more difficult. Fentanyl is so potent and moved in quantities so small that high-value shipments are easily hidden. As a result, law enforcement needs access to technology and resources to quickly and efficiently detect these drugs. This includes expanding nonintrusive inspection capabilities, making lifesaving Naloxone widely available, and adequately funding State and local law enforcement.

I am also gravely concerned about the negative impact of President Trump's recent order diverting Federal law enforcement agents, including from the DEA and ATF, away from combatting fentanyl and firearms trafficked by cartels and onto working on the President's mass deportation efforts. As a reminder, the vast majority of fentanyl and other illegal drugs entering the United States are smuggled by American citizens through legal ports of entry. And lastly, I am concerned about the negative impact of President Trump's mass removals and reassignments of senior career law enforcement at DOJ and FBI and how that will affect our ability to hold traffickers accountable and cut off the supply of fentanyl.

Today, I will vote for the HALT Fentanyl Act. Still, it is only a starting point, and there is so much more that we can do, like stopping the trafficking of American guns that arm the cartels and holding social media companies accountable for peddling fentanyl to our kids. Getting fentanyl off the streets is a herculean task that will require us all to come together and work across the aisle to make this country a healthier, safer place to live. I hope this bill is a sign that all of my Senate colleagues are willing to continue working on this task with me in the future.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source