Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, this is a critical reauthorization and it is imperative to maintaining our Nation's efforts to address the opiate epidemic. In February of 2018, the Drug Enforcement Administration used its authority to place nonscheduled fentanyl-like substances temporarily into schedule I for a period of 2 years. It is important that we do not let this authorization lapse, as it listed fentanyl is still an eminent threat to Americans. The Drug Enforcement Administration testified that the positive impacts since implementing this temporary schedule are significant, stating that prior to this action, the DEA observed a rapid and continuous emergence of a new fentanyl-like substance each time it is scheduled to remove a fentanyl-like substance. In other words, you take one out and one would pop up. We simply cannot return to that reality because of the deadly nature of this substance. Just last month, two north Texas teenagers died from counterfeit pills containing fentanyl. Last year, the Dallas DEA found over 16 kilograms of fentanyl targeting the region. It contained over 8 million lethal doses--one for every north Texas resident. Unfortunately, throughout this pandemic, the opiate crisis has continued, and it has gotten worse. Exacerbating this problem is the ease with which fentanyl is being smuggled across our southern border.…”