Jimmy Panetta

Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding me time, and I thank Chairman Guthrie and Ranking Member Pallone for their work on this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1266, my bipartisan legislation, the Combating Illicit Xylazine Act.

This is a bill, as we have heard, that would provide an important tool for law enforcement to go after the illegitimate use of xylazine by scheduling it under the Controlled Substances Act. It would also protect the legitimate use of this animal sedative for farmers, ranchers, veterinarians, and other professionals.

This is a bipartisan, bicameral bill that is a product of years of expert-driven work. This bill is not just about stopping the illegal use of xylazine on the streets. It is also about ensuring the legal use of xylazine on the farms.

Mr. Speaker, xylazine is a veterinary drug used to sedate large animals. It is irreplaceable as a tranquilizer for horses and cattle, but it absolutely has no legitimate use for humans.

Unfortunately, drug dealers are diverting it from legitimate uses to be combined with illicit drugs, especially fentanyl. That combination has become known on the streets as tranq, a drug that has become so popular that even the Emmy Award-winning series ``The Pitt'' portrayed the horrible effects of xylazine mixed with fentanyl. It is a zombie drug, Mr. Speaker, that makes fentanyl cheaper, easier, longer lasting, and deadlier.

The mix has resulted in drug users, either knowingly or unknowingly, taking the drug, which turns out is also very dangerous to their health. The side effects of human ingestion include necrosis. That means, Mr. Speaker, deep wounds in which the skin and muscle simply rot away. It leads to ulcers and scabs.

Mr. Speaker, when you see a picture of this stuff, you can't unsee it. They become infected and, in some cases, have been found to be filled with fleas or maggots. It has ultimately led to amputation.

The drug also leads to miserable hangovers that makes users want more, making fentanyl more addictive. Tranq can also lead to a depressed heart rate, resulting in hours-long

blackout stupors, which can make the drug users an easy target for assault or robbery.

What is worse is that first responders have found that users of tranq who are overdosing were not responding to Narcan, or naloxone, which is the emergency treatment for an overdose of fentanyl. That means the users of tranq weren't able to come out of the overdose and were more likely to die from their drug use.

Xylazine was first detected in the early 2000s in Puerto Rico. Although it stayed mainly in that area for the next decade, xylazine recently started to circulate in limited areas within the Northeast, especially in Philadelphia. However, the drug has now been detected in nearly every State in the Nation, including my State of California.

In 2021, xylazine was in 12 percent of powdered fentanyl tested by the DEA. By the end of 2024, xylazine was in nearly 40 percent. Unfortunately, because xylazine is not regulated as a controlled substance, it is easily available to drug traffickers and can be bought for as little as $6 per kilogram on Chinese websites.

The growing presence of xylazine complicates our difficult war against overdose deaths, and it risks making drug users even more vulnerable.

To make things more difficult, xylazine cannot be scheduled through rulemaking without cutting off its access for legitimate users in animal health. Appropriately, controlling xylazine for those legal end users requires an act of Congress, and that is why we are here tonight.

The Combating Illicit Xylazine Act would thread the needle by adding xylazine to schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act and, yes, punish those who traffic this drug. Also, this bill would authorize the DEA, the Drug Enforcement Administration, to track xylazine's legitimate dispensing and change the definition of an end user to those allowed to possess xylazine, including those who rely on this drug to care for animals and feed our country.

The bill offers a targeted and nuanced solution to overcome the devastating effects of tranq. It will prevent further trafficking of illicit xylazine while preserving its access to those who need it. That is why the Combating Illicit Xylazine Act is not just a bipartisan bill. It is a consensus bill that is supported by Democratic and Republican Presidential administrations, by 41 bipartisan attorneys general across the country, by law enforcement groups, by DEA and HHS, by veterinary medicine, and by more than 100 Members in this Chamber.

I thank the leadership of August Pfluger and Gus Bilirakis. That is why this legislation passed unanimously out of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

This bill also has bipartisan support in the Senate, led by Senators Cortez Masto and Chairman Chuck Grassley. It is a popular bill in the Capitol because, unfortunately, the use of tranq has become popular on the street.

However, by passing the Combating Illicit Xylazine Act, we are doing our job in Congress to prevent the illicit use of xylazine by drug dealers while ensuring its legitimate use for our farmers, ranchers, and veterinarians.

That is why I authored this bill, and that is why I urge my colleagues to support this effort and to pass my Combating Illicit Xylazine Act.

Mr. Chair, the President made some simple promises to get elected: release the Epstein files, end forever wars, and reduce costs.

Instead, as we have seen, the administration has done the exact opposite, which has led to corruption, incompetence, and to increase costs, all demonstrating that this President does not care.

Yet, rather than pushback and prioritize the American people, it appears the majority does not care, as it has put forward a budget resolution that spends more and borrows more just to please the President and promote his pet projects.

This third budget resolution allows for another $95 billion to support the President's war in Iran, paper over damaging trade policies, and pass legislation that will deter legally eligible voters.

I remind my colleagues on both sides of the aisle that the purpose of the budget reconciliation process is supposed to be deficit reduction. Instead, this legislation expands long-term deficits and even violates legal requirements.

I get that for over the past decade Congress has abandoned any sense of normal budgeting process and rejected any talk of serious deficit reduction, but this budget could have been an opportunity for this Congress to advance policies that reduce our debt and actually make life more affordable.

Instead, the President, once again, pushed the Republican majority to put forward a purely partisan resolution that does nothing to lower costs, nothing to strengthen our economy, and in no way exercises fiscal responsibility.

Mr. Chair, that is why I am against this reconciliation legislation. It not only shows that the President doesn't care about Americans, but it also shows that the majority doesn't care about our growing debt and deficit and that Congress' responsibility is to the future of this country.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my bipartisan legislation to rename the San Jose veterans affairs clinic for U.S. Army Corporal Patrick D. Tillman.

Mr. Speaker, this is more than about just a naming of a VA clinic. This is about patriotism. It is about passion, and it is about progression as a nation.

Now, there is no doubt, as you have heard, Mr. Speaker, that Pat was a patriot. After 9/11, he gave up a $3.6 million contract playing professional football to enlist in the U.S. Army.

Mr. Speaker, Pat had a storied football career, be it as a beast on the gridiron for the Chargers of Leland High School in Almaden Valley, San Jose; at Arizona State University as an Academic All-American who graduated summa cum laude in 3\1/2\ years; as an All-American who helped the Sun Devils to an undefeated season and a Rose Bowl berth in 1997; and then, of course, as a professional football player in the NFL for the Arizona Cardinals, where he set a franchise record for tackles in the year 2000.

Mr. Speaker, despite all of that, he felt he hadn't done a dang thing for this great country.

Pat grew up in a family of service who had gone and fought wars. He grew up knowing that his great-grandfather served at Pearl Harbor during the attack in 1941. He grew up realizing that in our democracy, we have an obligation to give back to our country that gives a guy like Pat Tillman the opportunity to play professional football.

He felt that he could fulfill that responsibility by joining the U.S. Army and becoming a U.S. Ranger.

Mr. Speaker, I admit that I did not know Pat Tillman, but when we know about Pat Tillman, all of us--all of us--feel his passion.

He did nothing half baked. He did everything with a full heart: academics, athletics, and of course, the service to our Nation.

He said: ``You should be passionate about everything you do; if not, why do it?'' That was his attitude about life, a passion that is demonstrated by that iconic photo of Pat on the football field that became the foundation for the statue of Pat outside Arizona State Sun Devil Stadium at the entrance of Tillman Tunnel that depicts Pat running, yelling, and hair flying.

That was the passion that drove his success on the football field. That passion drove his determination to do something after our Nation was attacked on 9/11. That passion led him to be all that he could be as an Army Ranger alongside his brother, Kevin, where they were subsequently assigned to the 2nd battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment.

Now, as an Army Ranger, Pat deployed in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 and then to Operation Enduring Freedom in 2004.

Mr. Speaker, it was on April 22 of that year that Pat was in Khost province in the southeast Afghanistan border region, and on that day he was part of two convoys on patrol in a narrow valley.

As they were going down this valley, they came to a fork in the road where the first convoy was supposed to turn left and the second convoy was supposed to turn right. That was Pat's convoy.

When Pat got to that fork in the road, they realized that it was impassable, and so they followed behind the first convoy to the left unbeknownst to the first convoy.

A while later, the enemies started to ambush the first convoy. Pat's convoy behind a hill heard it, knew what they had to do, and responded. Pat and two other members of that convoy immediately exited their Humvees, got up to a ridge where they could see the first convoy, and then started firing at the enemies up on the hill.

The first convoy, unfortunately, did not know that up on that ridge it was Pat Tillman. Pat's last words were: Cease fire. I am Pat f'ing Tillman.

Now, at first, Mr. Speaker, the Army put out a standard statement saying that Pat Tillman was killed by enemy fire, but after four military investigations and numerous independent investigations, including one by his own mother, Dannie, the truth came out that Pat was killed by friendly fire.

It was not just Pat's death that hurt. It was the sense of deception that made this story difficult. That is why the legacy of Pat Tillman should also be about progress, what we can do better as an Army, as a military, as a Congress, and as a country to ensure that this never happens again.

Mr. Speaker, Pat was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart and was posthumously promoted to corporal, but something tells me, Mr. Speaker, he wouldn't want it. Similar to this legislation, something tells me that Pat Tillman wouldn't want this recognition.

Well, Pat Tillman may not want this, but as a community and as a country, we want it, and, yes, we need it.

In this day of division and dysfunction, we must always, always be reminded of the sacrifice of the service and the ultimate sacrifice of someone like Pat Tillman. We must always be reminded of his patriotism, of his passion. Mr. Speaker, yes, we must always be reminded that we must always progress as a nation.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to support this legislation renaming the San Jose VA Clinic the Corporal Patrick D. Tillman VA Clinic.