December 23, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 23, 2022

Contact: Sasha Galbreath, Sasha.Galbreath@mail.house.gov 

Trone’s FENTANYL Results Act Signed Into Law by President Biden

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congressman David Trone’s (MD-06) Fighting Emerging Narcotics Through Additional Nations to Yield Lasting (FENTANYL) Results Act was signed into law by President Joe Biden through the FY23 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The legislation will increase global cooperation in the fight against synthetic drug trafficking. The measure was co-led by Congressman Mike McCaul (R-TX). Earlier this week, Trone also announced that the Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Well-Being Act – a package of over 30 bills (eight of which Trone led or co-led) to combat the addiction and mental health crises – were included in the omnibus funding deal, which is slated to pass the House later today.

The FENTANYL Results Act would authorize programs through the State Department that would build foreign law enforcement capacity to detect synthetic drugs and carry out an international exchange program for drug demand reduction experts. 

A record 108,000 Americans died from a drug overdose last year, and more than 200 people die every day from overdoses related to synthetic opioids. The FENTANYL Results Act has the potential to save countless lives and would work to ease the nation’s worsening synthetic opioid epidemic.

“With more than one million Americans lost to drug overdoses in the last 20 years, we must continue strengthening global cooperation to end the flow of fentanyl into our country,” said Congressman Trone, co-chair of the Bipartisan Addiction and Mental Health Task Force. “This legislation, now law, does just that. As we enter a new Congress, I’ll keep fighting for bipartisan, common-sense legislation to keep fentanyl out of our communities, support those suffering from substance use disorder, and, most importantly, save lives.”

In October, Congressman Trone wrote letters to the Chinese and Mexican Ambassadors encouraging further engagement to end the opioid epidemic.

Other provisions of the NDAA include:

• Increased pay and benefits for service members and their families, including a 4.6% pay raise for service members and civilian personnel;
• Support for HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions, allocating over $131 million for research activities at HBCUs and establishing a pilot program to increase research capacity at minority-serving institutions;
• Civilian harm mitigation measures, including the establishment of a Commission on Civilian Harm and a Center for Excellence in Civilian Harm Mitigation at the Department of Defense;
• New investments in science and technology competitiveness, including additional funding for next-generation capabilities in hypersonics, electronic warfare, directed energy, artificial intelligence, and software; and,
• Resources for U.S. allies and partners, including the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) and funding for the European Deterrence Initiative (EDI) and Pacific Deterrence Initiative (PDI).

Congressman Trone’s request for $20 million to support water infrastructure in Brunswick and Boonsboro was also included and passed into law through the NDAA.

You can read the NDAA’s bill summary here and access its full text here.

Congressman David Trone was elected to the House of Representatives in November 2018 to serve the 6th District of Maryland, which includes all or part of Montgomery, Frederick, Washington, Allegany, and Garrett Counties. Trone serves on the Appropriations, Veterans’ Affairs, and Joint Economic Committees. In Congress, Trone is fighting to make progress on issues that matter to Marylanders, including the mental health and addiction crises, criminal justice reform, and funding for medical research.

Follow Congressman Trone at @RepDavidTrone for updates on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

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