A bipartisan sanctions and anti-money laundering bill proposed by U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) aims to stop the flow of fentanyl into America by blocking the income source of synthetic opioid traffickers.
“Tens of thousands of Americans are dying each year from fentanyl that has been trafficked into this country by Mexican cartels and manufactured using materials from Communist China,” Sen. Wicker said. “This measure would directly target the criminals and organizations that are empowering the fentanyl trade and endangering our national security.”
Sen. Wicker on April 25 cosponsored the Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence (FEND) Off Fentanyl Act, S. 1271, which is sponsored by U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC). U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) signed on as the lead original cosponsor of the bill.
If enacted, S. 1271 would direct the U.S. Treasury Department to target, sanction, and block the financial assets of transnational criminal organizations, including cartels, according to the text of the bill, and the President of the United States (POTUS) would be able to use national emergency authorities to impose sanctions regarding fentanyl trafficking.
The measure also stipulates that the Treasury Department “should focus on fentanyl trafficking and its facilitators as one of the top national security priorities for the department,” the text says.
For instance, not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of S. 1271, and annually thereafter, the POTUS would submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on actions taken by the executive branch and any national emergency declared with respect to the trafficking of fentanyl, including the issuance of any new or revised regulations, policies, or guidance; the imposition of sanctions; the collection of relevant information from outside parties; the approval or denial of licenses by the Office of Foreign Assets Control; the initiation of enforcement cases; or the implementation of mitigation procedures, according to the bill’s text.
S. 1271 has been referred to the U.S. Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee for consideration.