Tim Kaine

Thank you to the witnesses.

We have a bipartisan urgency to deal with this crisis and it is frustrating to me that in this hearing a lot of folks want to try to levy other issues that are not central to dealing with this scourge.

We should be able to invest more in ports of entry to get a lot more fentanyl before it crosses the border.

Let us focus on where the challenge really is. It is at ports of entry.

That is why I co-authored the Fentanyl Sanctions Act with Senator Schumer in 2019.

I have a piece of legislation that is called the Expanding Medical Education Act, which I am going to reintroduce this Congress.

We should be able to invest more in ports of entry to get a lot more fentanyl before it crosses the border.

We have a bipartisan urgency to deal with this crisis and it is frustrating to me that in this hearing a lot of folks want to try to levy other issues that are not central to dealing with this scourge.

One of the ways we will keep a robust health care workforce is making sure that they have the resources they need to be resilient.

I doubt Xi Jinping cares about his chemical and pharmaceutical industry supplying the Mexican cartels that are flooding the United States with fentanyl.

I called this hearing because this is a national urgent issue and there are foreign policy dimensions to it.

I am not satisfied in either of the two contexts that we are doing what we need to do.

I know some of what we did in the IRA has made European nations kind of mad.

I believe, Senator, as I sit here that the cartels are acting with deliberate, calculated treachery.

That is why I co-authored the Fentanyl Sanctions Act with Senator Schumer in 2019.

We have to do more and technology is one way of doing more, but the truth of the matter is until we close our border this issue continues.

We need to use every foreign policy tool we have to stop the flow of fentanyl into our country.

I called this hearing because this is a national urgent issue and there are foreign policy dimensions to it.

I believe, Senator, as I sit here that the cartels are acting with deliberate, calculated treachery.

I am urging the Biden administration to take additional steps to confront the fentanyl epidemic.

We need to use every foreign policy tool we have to stop the flow of fentanyl into our country.

We need--and we think we need to encourage immigration.

I know some of what we did in the IRA has made European nations kind of mad.

Thank you to the witnesses.

Let us focus on where the challenge really is. It is at ports of entry.