U.S. House Unanimously Passes Legislation from Reps. Trone and McCaul to Stop the Flood of Fentanyl into the United States
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Hannah Muldavin, Hannah.Muldavin@mail.house.gov
U.S. House Unanimously Passes Legislation from Reps. Trone and McCaul to Stop the Flood of Fentanyl into the United States
Rep. Trone urges colleagues to vote in favor of the Fighting Emerging Narcotics Through Additional Nations to Yield Lasting (FENTANYL) Results Act on the House floor. A replay of the speech can be found here.
WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed the Fighting Emerging Narcotics Through Additional Nations to Yield Lasting (FENTANYL) Results Act, which U.S. Representatives David Trone (D-MD) and Michael McCaul (R-TX) introduced earlier this year. The bill would increase global cooperation in the fight against the trafficking of synthetic drugs like fentanyl. The bill now heads to the U.S. Senate for consideration.
This marks Trone’s second bill this week related to fighting the opioid epidemic that has unanimously passed the House. Yesterday, Trone’s bill that would provide billions to states for opioid prevention, treatment, and recovery passed the House and is headed to the U.S. Senate for consideration.
“I lost my nephew Ian to a fentanyl overdose at the age of 24 after a five year battle with addiction. Since then, tens of thousands of Americans have met a similar fate due in part to synthetic drugs like fentanyl,” said Congressman Trone, member of the Commission to Combat Synthetic Opioid Trafficking and founder of the Freshmen Working Group on Addiction. “This bipartisan legislation will allow us to work collaboratively with international partners to crack down on the synthetic drug trade and ultimately save lives. I’m proud to have worked with Ranking Member McCaul on this important legislation and will continue working across the aisle to develop common-sense solutions to end the addiction epidemic.”
“The opioid epidemic is ravaging communities across the U.S. and the FENTANYL Results Act will better equip us to fight this scourge,” said Congressman McCaul, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “This legislation leverages the tools of the State Department to combat the international trafficking of synthetic drugs across our borders by increasing information sharing with international drug agencies and creating a program to assist foreign law enforcement organizations to address this threat. I commend Representative Trone for his leadership on this important issue that will help save American lives.”
The FENTANYL Results Act would authorize two 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.
This legislation comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released preliminary data showing a dramatic increase in overdose deaths from 2018 to 2019 and highlighting that synthetic drugs led to the greatest year over year increase in overdose deaths.
Trone has made ending the addiction crisis his top priority as a Member of Congress. He founded the Freshmen Working Group on Addiction, a bipartisan group of 60+ Members of Congress dedicated to that aim. The group has introduced more than 50 pieces of legislation to address the issue. Earlier this year, Speaker Pelosi appointed Trone to the National Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking.
For a section-by-section summary, click here.
To read bill text, click 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 Education and Labor, Foreign Affairs, and Joint Economic Committees, where he is fighting to make progress on issues that matter to Marylanders, including the opioid epidemic, criminal justice reform, and funding for medical research.
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