Political Quotes

“Under section 706-1 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act for fiscal year 2003, the President is authorized to identify a list of countries that are major drug transit or major illicit drug production countries, also known as the majors list. China was added to the majors list in September, citing the PRC's role in the production of precursor chemicals used to produce illicit drugs. We have, sadly, seen the impact of Chinese fentanyl in real time. Overdose deaths in my beloved home State of Tennessee have increased by 200 percent over the last 5 years, driven in part by a near-doubling of fentanyl seizures at the southwest border from fiscal year 2022 to 2023, 14,700 pounds versus 27,000 pounds. While Joe Biden did add China to the so-called majors list, that designation came with a caveat. The President effectively said that despite overdose deaths regularly topping 100,000 a year, he was only adding China to the list because of the statutory definition of major drug source countries. It was expanded to include source countries for precursor chemicals. Biden also said that it is hard for large countries with significant chemical and pharmaceutical industries to prevent precursors from being diverted to the production of illicit drugs. The President even brought up an argument saying that it is hard for the U.S. to do it. It may be hard, Madam Chair, but we do do it. I reserve the balance of my time.”