Bishop introduces tougher version of bipartisan bill to halt overseas mail shipments of opioids

A bipartisan agreement on the Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevention (STOP) Act has been reached by lawmakers in both chambers of Congress who want to halt mail shipments of synthetic opioids into the United States, U.S. Rep. Mike Bishop (R-MI) announced last week.

The agreement culminated in the Securing the International Mail Against Opioids Act of 2018, H.R. 5788, which Rep. Bishop introduced on May 15 and which on June 11 was placed on the U.S. House of Representatives’ Union Calendar for an upcoming vote. Members in the U.S. Senate also plan to fast track the bill.

“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,” said Rep. Bishop on June 8.

A bipartisan, bicameral congressional group put forth H.R. 5788 as a new version of the STOP Act of 2017, H.R. 1057 and S. 372, which proposes that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) obtain electronic data on incoming packages from overseas that would enable U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to better target high-risk mail shipments of opioids, which would be inspected for possible seizure.

Rep. Bishop said the new version of the bill, originally introduced in both chambers on Feb. 14, 2017, “brings us one step closer to making the bipartisan STOP Act the law of the land.” The bill already had garnered overwhelming support, with 271 cosponsors in the House and 34 cosponsors in the Senate.

The new H.R. 5788 has six cosponsors, including U.S. Reps. Mike Kelly (R-PA), French Hill (R-AR), and Bill Pascrell (D-NJ).

To release what the bipartisan, bicameral group considers an even stronger version of the STOP Act, Rep. Bishop said he teamed with House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) and the panel’s Trade Subcommittee Chairman Dave Reichert (R-WA), and U.S. Rep. John Faso (R-NY) and Rep. Pascrell, as well as U.S. Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). Reps. Faso and Reichert also are cosponsors of H.R. 5788.

“I’m grateful to Senators Portman and Klobuchar for their tireless efforts on this legislation, along with Chairman Brady and Representatives 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,” said Rep. Bishop.

Rep. Brady said he was proud of Rep. Bishop’s “hard work and leadership” to help deliver “a hard-hitting solution” to a very serious problem. The lawmaker was referring to current law that requires CBP to use advance electronic data (AED) for shipments by private carriers, including express delivery carriers, to the United States. However, these requirements don’t extend to international mail shipments.

The amended STOP Act, Rep. Brady said, imposes tough new requirements on both USPS and CBP. “We have been working … to further strengthen the bill to ensure that our government is held accountable,” Rep. Brady said. “I look forward to moving this bill to the floor quickly.”

Sen. Portman called the STOP Act critical to empowering the efforts of lawmakers “to combat the wave of opioid addiction and overdose deaths sweeping the country.”

“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,” said Sen. Portman.

In a one-page summary of H.R. 5788 released by Rep. Bishop’s office, the proposal would require USPS to transmit AED to CBP on at least 70 percent of international mail arriving to the United States by Dec. 31, and 100 percent by Dec. 31, 2020, before it reaches the border. USPS also would be required to refuse shipments for which AED is not furnished and to take law enforcement action to protect the U.S. border, according to the summary.

H.R. 5788 also would direct the U.S. State Department to strengthen international postal agreements and to ensure that any future agreements preserve the ability of the United States to require AED on all international mail shipments, according to the summary.

Additionally, Congress under H.R. 5788 could hold USPS and CBP “accountable for these mandates to protect international mail by imposing robust enforcement and oversight mechanisms,” according to the summary, which says the bill also would establish civil penalties if USPS accepted international mail shipments without AED after Dec. 31, 2020.

“This legislation establishes rigorous oversight mechanisms to ensure that the agencies are accountable to Congress,” as stated in the summary, which lists accountability measures that would include a joint strategic plan detailing specific performance measures for meeting the requirements; a biannual briefing and annual reporting requirements to Congress; and a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office on the agencies’ progress in achieving the legislative mandates.

“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.”

H.R. 5788 has been advanced to the full House for a vote.