Bill Pascrell: “I am pleased, Mr. Speaker, to be on the floor today regarding a bill that we have been negotiating for many months and…”

“I am pleased, Mr. Speaker, to be on the floor today regarding a bill that we have been negotiating for many months and that deals with an incredibly important topic: the opioid epidemic that is having a devastating impact across the country. Despite current efforts, this opioid epidemic continues to ravage our communities. Every day in this country, 115 Americans lose their lives to opioids--painkillers. In 2016, my home State of New Jersey alone experienced 2,056 lives lost to this epidemic. The New Jersey Attorney General predicts that it will be 3,000 this year. This legislation addresses one aspect of the crisis: synthetic opioids making their way into homes across the country through the mail. According to the Drug Enforcement Agency, China is the primary source of the fentanyl that enters this country. Fentanyl is often sold online and then shipped to the United States in small quantities, making it very difficult to detect. I saw firsthand the way that the U.S. Postal Service and Customs is working together to stop the flow of synthetic opioids coming in through international mail. I visited a mail facility in Secaucus, New Jersey, with representatives from these agencies and the Food and Drug Administration. I know that the Postal Service receives an overwhelming volume of mail and they are working hard with limited resources to screen shipments.…”