On the recordDecember 7, 2021
Madam President, I come to the floor today to discuss what anybody ought to discuss with a heavy heart because when it comes to fighting drug abuse, the United States seems to be losing. Over 100,000 Americans have died from drug overdoses in the last year alone. These casualties could have been prevented by better drug prevention, treatment, and intervention, but the brunt of this epidemic is due to drug trafficking organizations. Cartels fuel the flames of drug abuse, often using violence and causing devastating loss of life. Drug traffickers lace street drugs with fentanyl, making deadly drugs even more lethal. And, of course, we all know that most or all of that fentanyl comes from China. China is winning a war, killing Americans through drug overuse, without even firing a shot. Of course, drug traffickers are not slowing down. In June of this year alone, Customs and Border Protection agents seized over 1,000 pounds of fentanyl. This could kill two-thirds of the population of the United States. The boots-on-the-ground agents seize these drugs before they reach us, but what they find, what they seize, is a fraction of what comes into the United States. In my home State of Iowa, agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration seized more lethal doses of fentanyl in 2020 than there were people within the State. This means the Drug Enforcement Administration seized enough fentanyl to kill everyone in Iowa.…





