Joint Task Force to Combat Opioid Trafficking Act of 2018

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5762, the Joint Task Force to Combat Opioid Trafficking Act of 2018.

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I thank my colleague, the gentleman from New York, Chairman Donovan, for his kind and strong words of support for this bill. This has been a truly bipartisan effort on the committee, and I thank the gentleman for his work on this and for his support.

Again, Mr. Speaker, we are in the midst of a public health emergency that is devastating communities across the country, including my home State of Rhode Island. No matter your race, gender, age, religion, or socioeconomic status, Americans are suffering from the opioid overdose epidemic.

We know that approximately 42,000 fatalities were attributed to opioids in 2016, and we know that fentanyl is exacerbating the problem. This powerful synthetic opioid, which is 25 to 50 times stronger than heroin and 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine, has caused 15 times more deaths in Rhode Island during 2016 than in 2009.

In its purest form as a powder, or as grains similar to the size of salt, fentanyl's lethal potency often harms people when unknowingly mixed with other illicit drugs, like heroin, or marketed on the street as a different substance entirely.

Since the majority of opioids interdicted by the United States are seized at ports of entry and the southern border accounts for at least 75 percent of all opioids collected, I am pleased to offer a solution that will strengthen the Department of Homeland Security's fight against this drug crisis. This bill authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a task force to enhance the internal integration of the department's border security operations to detect, interdict, disrupt, and prevent narcotics, including fentanyl, from entering the United States in the first place.

Secretary Jeh Johnson was the first to use the joint task force model to achieve better unity of effort across the department's components when it comes to fulfilling the Homeland Security mission.

All of DHS' many agencies, from Customs and Border Protection to the U.S. Coast Guard, have an important role to play when it comes to combating opioid trafficking, which makes the joint task force a particularly apt structure to address the crisis. If Homeland Security Investigations is looking into a fentanyl distribution ring in Omaha, they need to coordinate efforts with Customs offices in El Paso so that packages en route to Nebraska are properly inspected.

The JTF model is intended to ensure this coordination is baked into the culture at the various components and that cases don't slip through the cracks. The goal is not to add red tape for the hardworking DHS personnel protecting our Nation but to keep them all on the same page as a single, unified effort. This coordination is worth it.

Mr. Speaker, Congress recognized the value of Secretary Johnson's pilot

JTFs when we formally authorized them in 2016. As new challenges confront the department, we must make use of this organizational structure in innovative ways to maintain the synergies that drove the creation of DHS in the first place.

Stopping the proliferation of fentanyl is particularly well suited to the JTF approach. Unlike many more traditional narcotics, fentanyl is often shipped directly to dealers from overseas. Fentanyl's extremely high potency allows these shipments to be small enough to go undetected unless carefully scrutinized.

That is why it is essential that the joint task force on opioids collaborate with private-sector organizations and any other Federal, State, local, Tribal, territorial, or international entity to increase operational effectiveness, coordination, and information sharing.

We need to work with partners, especially the United States Postal Service and private parcel delivery services like UPS and FedEx, to ensure suspicious packages are inspected. Having a single task force coordinating the department's efforts makes it much easier for other organizations to know to whom to go.

The collaboration called for in this bill, combined with the implementation of Ms. Tsongas' INTERDICT Act, which focuses on drug detection technologies, will ensure that DHS is maximally effective in combating the flood of synthetic opioids trafficked into the United States.

The crisis gripping our Nation, Mr. Speaker, is complex. We recognize that. We cannot succeed in stemming the opioid epidemic unless the Federal Government recognizes the opportunity to integrate and collaborate not only across agencies but also with our private-sector partners.

I hope my colleagues will join this bipartisan effort to curb the prevalence of illicit opioids on our streets, in our communities, in our neighborhoods, and in our homes by supporting H.R. 5762.

Mr. Speaker, now more than ever, we need to take action to curb the flow of synthetic opioids into America. The need plays out in tragedies around the country every day.

Rhode Island's Brandon Goldner was just 23 years old when, after being revived seven times in a 2-month period, he tragically lost his life to an opioid overdose. Losing Brandon and so many others to opioids demands that we, as lawmakers, act quickly to reduce the stigma associated with drug use and ensure that there are adequate treatment options that are available.

I am proud to come from a State that has developed a comprehensive strategy to combat the opioid crisis by supporting local and State partners at every level of education, treatment, and prevention through the creation of a statewide overdose prevention and intervention task force.

This is a constant battle, and reducing the prevalence of opioids available to those who might use or abuse the substance is an important step that we can take today by passing this bill. Every one of my colleagues has their own Brandon story. Everyone has talked with grieving parents, children, friends, and coworkers.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud that the Committee on Homeland Security is doing its part to ensure that we bring a whole-of-government approach to combating this whole-of-society problem, and I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

The bill before us today will enhance internal DHS operations, force the collaboration across Federal agencies, and develop partnerships with the private sector to limit opioids coming into our country and getting distributed throughout our communities.

Like every bill that makes it to the floor, this legislation is the result of a collaborative effort.

Mr. Speaker, I must thank Senator Claire McCaskill, who has been a true champion in driving policy to address the opioid crisis and who first proposed applying the JTF model to this epidemic. She has been a true leader on this issue.

I also thank my good friend and long-time colleague on the committee and cosponsor, Congressman Peter King, who has helped ensure that this effort is a bipartisan one.

Likewise, I owe a debt of gratitude to our ranking member, Mr. Thompson, and our chairman, Mr. McCaul, who worked with me in turn to make a good idea even better legislation.

Like anything we do, nothing would have been possible without the tireless work of our staff, in particular that of Rosaline Cohen and Alex Carnes with the committee, and Elyssa Malin in my office.

Mr. Speaker, I have said before that the opioid epidemic is incredibly complex. With the number of factors driving this tragic increase in overdoses, there is no silver bullet to this public health emergency. Rather, it demands a whole-of-society approach. This bill will bring that unity of effort to the Department of Homeland Security, so that it can be a more effective partner in turning the tide against opioid abuse.

I hope all of my colleagues will join with me in supporting the creation of this joint task force and support this bill. Again, I thank Chairman Donovan, the gentleman from New York, for his words of support and his effort to see that this bill got to the floor in the first place. I hope to see it pass.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5762) to amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to authorize a Joint Task Force to enhance integration of the Department of Homeland Security's border security operations to detect, interdict, disrupt, and prevent narcotics, such as fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, from entering the United States, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include any extraneous materials on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, the opioid epidemic continues to devastate communities across this Nation every day. One hundred fifteen Americans die every single day from an opioid overdose. Opioid abuse doesn't discriminate. It touches people from every age group, race, class, gender, and background.

In my home State of New York, more than 3,000 lives were lost in 2016 alone. Mr. Speaker, 3,000.

Some Americans are becoming addicted after taking doctor-prescribed doses for an injury or surgery. Others are trying them in illicit forms and are becoming addicted. Opioids are highly addictive and overprescribed. It is a major part of this epidemic.

Another disturbing trend we are seeing is illicit drugs being laced with fentanyl, which is 100 times more powerful than morphine, leading to accidental overdoses. I have seen estimates concluding that more than 2 million of our fellow Americans are addicted to opioids. Too many lives have been lost, and too many families have been destroyed.

As we work to confront the epidemic, we must prevent the abuse of opioids, stop the flow of opioids into the United States, and treat those Americans who have become addicted. Last week, the House passed 35 bills to address the opioid epidemic through stronger prevention, treatment, and enforcement activities. Today, we continue that work.

H.R. 5762 would further enable law enforcement to stop the flow of opioids such as fentanyl from entering the United States. This bill would create a joint task force within the Department of Homeland Security to organize opioid interdiction efforts across multiple components and agencies. The task force would coordinate the assets and personnel of Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Coast Guard, and other resources to track, interdict, and prevent the illicit flow of opioids through the United States in a unity of effort campaign.

It will also leverage domestic and international partners to provide a multifaceted approach to tackling this issue. Most illicit opioids are produced in China, being smuggled by mail, where vulnerabilities in the postal system are exploited. We are also seeing increased traffic from Mexico, with opioids hidden in vehicles and cargo entering through our ports of entry.

The joint task force approach to the opioid epidemic is effective because it fosters information sharing and exchange between all relevant stakeholders to combat the opioid epidemic.

There is no quick or easy solution to this epidemic, though H.R. 5762 is a step in the right direction. It empowers the Department of Homeland Security and its mission partners to tackle the opioid crisis head-on by organizing a joint task force focused on preventing opioids from reaching our communities.

Mr. Speaker, I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will join me in voting for H.R. 5762, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I once again urge my colleagues to support H.R. 5762. I thank my friend from Rhode Island for his leadership on this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, the following cost estimate for H.R. 4991, the Supporting Research and Development for First Responders Act; H.R. 4627, the Shielding Public Spaces from Vehicular Terrorism Act; and H.R. 5762, the Joint Task Force to Combat Opioid Trafficking Act of 2018, prepared by the Congressional Budget Office was not made available to the Committee at the time of filing of the legislative report.

U.S. Congress,

Congressional Budget Office

Washington, DC, June 28, 2018.

Hon. Michael McCaul,

Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security,

House of Representatives, Washington, DC.

Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has

reviewed the following pieces of legislation that were passed

by the House of Representatives on June 19, 2018:

H.R. 4991, the Supporting Research and Development for

First Responders Act;

H.R. 4627, the Shielding Public Spaces from Vehicular

Terrorism Act; and

H.R. 5762, the Joint Task Force to Combat Opioid

Trafficking Act of 2018.

H.R. 4991 would codify programs that currently exist at the

Department of Homeland Security (DHS). H.R. 4627 would

confirm the authority of DHS to establish a task force to

disrupt drug trafficking, and H.R. 5762 would clarify the

scope of the department's research and development program.

CBO estimates that enacting these pieces of legislation

would not significantly affect DHS spending. Because the

legislation would not affect direct spending or revenues,

pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.

CBO estimates that enacting the acts would not increase net

direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four

consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029.

None of the acts contain intergovernmental or private-

sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform

Act.

If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be

pleased to provide

them. The CBO staff contact is Mark Grabowicz.

Sincerely,

Keith Hall, Director.