Political Quotes

“I am 5 minutes late in coming to the Senate floor. I was supposed to be here on the fentanyl issue to support Senator Cotton. I know that an objection has been raised, but I want people to know how important I think this issue is. Today, we were considering--hopefully, by unanimous consent--passing a bill to permanently schedule fentanyl substances. Proactively scheduling fentanyl-related substances ought to be a big priority because too many Americans' lives have been lost to reject this critical measure. Some wrongly assert that controlling fentanyl analogs is partisan and unnecessary. That is simply untrue. Legislation to schedule fentanyl analogs is a bipartisan issue. Just last year, this body passed a bipartisan, 15-month extension bill unanimously. Also, such authority is necessary. The CDC estimates that fentanyl analogs have killed 50,000 Americans in the last 12 months. We must prevent overdose deaths. Prevention is possible when we use our laws to force China to stop the flow of fentanyl analogs. Opponents of permanent scheduling assert that the authority is broad and could result in too many arrests, but since the Drug Enforcement Administration placed fentanyl analogs in schedule I, the Justice Department has convicted only 80 people under that authority. So too many people being arrested as an argument against their permanent extension is hogwash.…”