Sheila Jackson Lee: “I thank the chairman for yielding. Madam Speaker, just to put on the record that the data shows that there are already…”

“I thank the chairman for yielding. Madam Speaker, just to put on the record that the data shows that there are already significant racial disparities in some of the Federal cases and mandatory minimum sentences involving fentanyl analogues. I don't want to put words in the mouth of my chairman, Chairman Pallone, but I have heard him speak to these issues, and I am grateful for it. I am grateful for his sensitivity. So I wanted to come to the floor knowing the work that has been done, but also knowing your understanding. And I wanted to just make sure that these communities that cannot speak for themselves clearly are put on the record. I need not say that the trial that we just had with the George Floyd case and what was trying to be represented in that case, albeit was a very tiny or minute or nonexistent amount. So I want to make sure that we do this right and we get the time to do it. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his leadership. Washington, DC, April 19, 2021. President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., The White House, Washington, DC. Dear President Biden: We write to express our serious concerns with class-wide scheduling of fentanyl-related substances, joining with our colleagues Senators Booker, Hirono, Markey, Warren and Whitehouse, who wrote to you about this issue on April 14. We too commend your commitment to end mandatory minimums, to address racial disparities, and to achieve criminal justice reform.…”