House Ways and Means Committee issued the following announcement on June 8.
Today, the House and Senate released the new bipartisan, bicameral agreement on the Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevention (STOP) Act, legislation to help prevent the shipment of synthetic opioids into the United States through the international mail system. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, Rep. Mike Bishop (R-MI), Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Trade Subcommittee Chairman Dave Reichert (R-WA), and Rep. John Faso (R-NY) released the following statements:
“The STOP Act, as amended, will secure the international mail and protect Americans from opioids and other contraband entering this country by imposing tough new requirements on the U.S. Postal Service and Customs and Border Protection,” Chairman Brady said. “I am proud of the hard work and leadership by Rep. Mike Bishop and also Chairman Dave Reichert, Rep. John Faso, and Sen. Rob Portman to deliver a hard-hitting solution to this very serious problem. The Ways and Means Committee passed legislation several weeks ago with broad bipartisan support, and we have been working since then to further strengthen the bill to ensure that our government is held accountable. I look forward to moving this bill to the floor quickly.”
“Today brings us one step closer to making the bipartisan STOP Act the law of the land,” said Rep. Bishop. “This common-sense legislation will close loopholes in the international mail system currently being exploited by drug traffickers to ship dangerous synthetic opioids, like fentanyl, across our borders. I’m grateful to Sens. Portman and Klobuchar for their tireless efforts on this legislation, along with Chairman Brady and Reps. Pascrell, Reichert and Faso, to ensure our law enforcement has all of the tools they need to keep this poison out of the hands of our children and out of our communities.”
“The STOP Act is critical to our efforts to combat the wave of opioid addiction and overdose deaths sweeping the country,” said Sen. Portman. “It will require the Postal Service to provide advance electronic data on 100 percent of the packages entering the United States and provide law enforcement with the information they need to help stop the shipment of deadly synthetic drugs like fentanyl into our communities. I’d like to thank Senator Klobuchar, Chairman Brady and Reps. Bishop, Reichert, Pascrell and Faso for their efforts on this bill and to combat this opioid crisis. I’m looking forward to moving this bill forward in the Senate in the coming weeks and working with my colleagues in the House, Senate, and the administration to ensure that it gets signed into law.”
“Dangerous synthetic drugs that find their way into our communities from overseas through the postal system continue to claim the lives of teenagers and adults in Minnesota and across the country,” said Sen. Klobuchar. “In the face of these tragedies, I introduced the STOP Act with Senator Portman to step up efforts to help stop these synthetic drugs from coming across our borders from foreign countries in the first place. This legislation is a strong step toward accomplishing that goal.”
“Today, we are advancing strong legislation to secure the international mail to protect the American people from fetanyl, a dangerous synthetic opioid that has devastated families and is still all too easily shipped into our country,” said Chairman Reichert. “This legislation builds upon the work I have been proud to do with Chairman Brady and my colleagues, including Rep. Mike Bishop, on the Ways and Means Committee. I look forward to its consideration by the full House.”
“Our communities are being devastated by synthetic drugs like fentanyl and carfentanil that are hundreds of times more potent than heroin and are fueling the opioid crisis,” said Rep. Faso. “A large portion of these dangerous synthetic drugs come into the country through our postal system and this must stop. The STOP Act is part of the solution and will help crack down on illegal shipments by giving more tools to our customs and border control officers. I thank Chairmen Brady and Reichert, as well as my colleague Rep. Bishop, for their hard work in negotiating this legislation.”
CLICK HERE to read the bill.
CLICK HERE for the summary.
Original source can be found here.
