Political Quotes

“I rise today to offer an amendment that would appropriate funding for the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the Department of Treasury to investigate the illicit trade of synthetic opiates originating from the People's Republic of China. In 2016, synthetic opiates killed 19,413 Americans. That is more than heroin, which killed 15,469, and prescription pain pills, which killed 14,487. Between 2013 and 2016, deaths involving synthetic opioids increased 625 percent. Most illicit synthetic opioids found in street drugs originate in China, with some shipped through Mexico, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration and United Nations narcotics monitors. China produces over 90 percent of the world's fentanyl and exports a range of fentanyl products to the United States, including raw fentanyl, fentanyl precursors, fentanyl analogues, and fentanyl-laced counterfeit prescription drugs, like oxycodone and pill pressers. Unlike previous epidemics where there are a few underground sources, many manufacturers of fentanyl and fentanyl precursors in China are legitimate companies legally producing and exporting legitimate drugs and chemicals to the United States. According to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, ``the primary obstacles to controlling fentanyl and NPS flows lie in China''--China itself.…”