02.16.24

At Fentanyl Crisis Roundtable in Longview, Cantwell Calls on House to Pass Bill to Disrupt Opioid Supply Chains & Protect the Border

Cantwell-cosponsored FEND Off Fentanyl Act passed the Senate Feb. 13; awaits vote in the House

LONGVIEW, WA – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) hosted a roundtable discussion at Longview City Hall to discuss ongoing local and federal efforts to curb the impacts of the fentanyl crisis and hear firsthand from the region’s emergency responders, local officials, health care providers, law enforcement, tribal leaders, and members of the community with experience of fentanyl addiction.

"We have been fighting for the last several months to try to get the FEND Off Fentanyl Act passed in Congress," said Sen. Cantwell. "This is a really important piece of legislation because it helps us fight the actual drug cartels that are moving so much product into our country. ... I hope that this time we'll get the support in the House of Representatives and get it passed, because we have to disrupt the illicit flow of fentanyl in our country."

Sen. Cantwell also noted the severity of the problem in Cowlitz County.

"[Cowlitz County] overdose deaths increased by 950%," said Sen. Cantwell. "That's a huge increase. So we want to do everything we can to listen today. ... I really look forward to hearing what people have to say."

The roundtable was Sen. Cantwell’s tenth stop on an ongoing listening tour across Washington state to hear from people on the front lines of the fentanyl crisis. Last May, Sen. Cantwell hosted a fentanyl crisis roundtable discussion in Pierce County followed by a second roundtable discussion in Snohomish County in June; in July, she convened a roundtable in the Tri-Cities, a roundtable in downtown Seattle, and a roundtable in Spokane; in August, she convened roundtables in Vancouver, Port Angeles, Walla Walla, and Yakima.

A background document on Sen. Cantwell’s ongoing actions to combat the fentanyl crisis is available HERE.

Data updated in January 2024 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that the State of Washington experienced the single-highest increase among U.S. states in reported drug overdose deaths between September 2022 to September 2023, an increase of 38.27%. According to the CDC, 105,879 people in the United States died of drug overdoses and drug poisonings in the 12-month period ending in September 2023. Moreover, 1,760 of the 2,695 overdose deaths in Washington state in 2022 involved synthetic opioids like fentanyl.

On February 13, the Senate passed the FEND Off Fentanyl Act as part of a broader national security package. The bill, which Sen. Cantwell cosponsored, would enhance current law so U.S. government agencies can more effectively disrupt illicit opioid supply chains and penalize those facilitating the trafficking of fentanyl. It also declares international trafficking of fentanyl, and the precursors used to make it a national emergency. The Senate also passed the FEND Off Fentanyl Act as part of the National Defense Authorization Act in July, but the House blocked including the bipartisan bill in the final version of the NDAA that became law. 

In July, Sen. Cantwell introduced the Parity for Tribal Law Enforcement Act, which would help tribes hire and retain tribal law enforcement officers by raising their retirement, pension, death, and injury benefits to be on par with those of federal law enforcement officers.

In October, Sen. Cantwell sent a letter to the leaders of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs requesting that the committee hold an oversight hearing on how to address the fentanyl crisis in Indian Country. The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs held the hearing on November 8, 2023, which included Lummi Tribe Chairman Anthony Hillaire. The Chairman testified on how the crisis has affected his community and emphasized the need for more federal resources. On December 6, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs held a second hearing on the fentanyl crisis in Indian Country with testimony from several federal officials, including Vanessa Waldref, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, and Glen Melville, Deputy Bureau Director at the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Justice Services and member of the Makah Tribe.

In November, Sen. Cantwell held a briefing on the fentanyl crisis with her colleagues on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Briefers included officials from the Department of Homeland Security, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and the Department of Commerce. The Senator also released a statement on the Biden Administration’s announcement of China’s agreement to help stop fentanyl chemical precursors from reaching the U.S.

In December, President Biden signed the TRANQ Research Act of 2023 into law.  Sen. Cantwell cosponsored and helped advance this legislation to spur more research into xylazine and other novel synthetic drugs, by directing the National Institute of Standards and Technology to tackle these issues.  In April 2023, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy officially designated fentanyl combined with xylazine an emerging threat to the U.S.  As Chair of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation she led a committee markup of the Senate bill in May 2023 and joined it as a cosponsor, then cosponsored similar bipartisan language to amend a bill that subsequently passed the Senate by unanimous consent, passed the House, and was signed by the President.

An archived livestream of the event is available HERE and a transcript is HERE. Photos of the event are available HERE. More photos and video HERE.

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