Kathy Castor: “I include in the Record a letter from the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights on behalf of this large and…”

“I include in the Record a letter from the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights on behalf of this large and diverse coalition of 240 national organizations. The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, February 4, 2025. Hon. Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House, Washington, DC. Hon. Hakeem Jeffries, House Minority Leader, Washington, DC. Dear Speaker Johnson and Minority Leader Jeffries: On behalf of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 240 national organizations to promote and protect civil and human rights in the United States, we write to express our strong opposition to H.R. 27, the Halt All Lethal Trafficking (HALT) of Fentanyl Act, and to urge the House to reject this bill. The Leadership Conference will score the House's vote in our Voting Record for the 119th Congress. This bill permanently schedules fentanyl-related substances (FRS) on schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) based on a flawed class definition. Additionally, it imposes mandatory minimums and fails to provide an offramp for removing inert or harmless substances from the drug schedule. The classwide scheduling that this bill would impose would exacerbate pretrial detention, mass incarceration, and racial disparities in the prison system, doubling down on a fear- based, enforcement-first response to a public health challenge.…”