Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise to voice my strong support for H.R. 5228, legislation that I authored that will strengthen FDA's ability to prevent illicit opioids from coming in through our international mail facilities by providing the agency with additional enforcement authority and financial resources. In April, Mr. Speaker, I had the opportunity to visit an international mail facility in my home State of New Jersey with the Food and Drug Administration, Customs and Border Patrol, and the U.S. Postal Service, and to see firsthand the problems that these agencies are facing when it comes to illegal, unapproved drugs entering our country through international mail facilities. FDA staff showed us boxes of pills that had limited labeling, labeling in foreign languages, or no labeling at all, and were sent from unknown and unregistered facilities. FDA staff explained that it takes the agency days to catalog these boxes, identify what products contained inside are legitimate, and identify what products, under current law, the agency can destroy. FDA then had no other option but to return that box to the sender. This leaves open the possibility that the sender will just drop the box of illegal pills back in the mail and try to enter the country again through another international mail facility. The agency also showed me a series of similarly wrapped and marked packages that contained little labeling and were misidentified as gifts.…”