U.S. Reps. Evan Jenkins (R-WV) and French Hill (R-AR) are working to impose harsher sentences for fentanyl trafficking.
Rep. Jenkins last week questioned U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions about prosecuting drug traffickers, while Rep. Hill discussed a newly proposed bill that would help fight opioid trafficking.
“I want to make sure that your prosecutors, your law enforcement officials have the resources to make sure that we put these people behind bars, because I will tell you, there is a real concern from the public that the criminals get out faster than the reports are filed. We want them rounded up; we want them locked up,” Rep. Jenkins told Sessions during an April 26 hearing held by the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies.
Rep. Jenkins, vice chair of the subcommittee, asked Sessions what could be done to ensure that drug traffickers, such as those recently arrested in his home state of West Virginia, get prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
“Revolving doors are not acceptable. I’m hearing too much of that, where people are being released too quickly,” Sessions testified.
The attorney general said that Michael B. Stuart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia, and “his people” are determined to work with local law enforcement to go after these gangs in the congressman’s state.
“Some say law enforcement doesn’t make a difference. I disagree,” Sessions testified. “You continue, like you said, to sustain this effort and people who committed very serious crimes get serious punishment — you can reverse these trends and make your hometown a safer and better place to live in.”
Rep. Jenkins also questioned Sessions about U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to institute the death penalty in certain drug trafficking cases and said, “I want to join you and the president in saying, let’s prosecute to the fullest extent possible.”
Sessions said the U.S. Department of Justice has sent a message that “violent gangs, these organized crime groups, need to be taken down,” because they’re specifically challenging law, order, peace, security and prosperity in America.
Sentencing guidelines for drug traffickers was the main thrust behind the related April 10 introduction by Rep. Hill of the Ending the Fentanyl Crisis Act of 2018, H.R. 5459, in the U.S. House of Representatives.
H.R. 5459 is the House version of the same-named proposal, S. 2635, introduced on April 9 in the U.S. Senate by U.S. Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) with U.S. Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Dean Heller (R-NV) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) signing on as among the bill’s cosponsors.
The identical bills would reduce the amount of fentanyl required to trigger mandatory sentencing minimums in distribution cases, according to information provided by Rep. Hill’s office, and would allocate additional resources to the U.S. Postal Service to help intercept packages containing fentanyl and analogues.
“Across Arkansas, tearful families have told me their stories about how the opioid crisis has personally affected them, which is why I introduced this bill to step up penalties for fentanyl traffickers and provide necessary resources to track illegal shipments,” Rep. Hill said on April 26 about the proposal.
The opioid epidemic during 2017 caused more than 45,000 deaths, “with a third of these deaths attributable to fentanyl and similar compounds,” Rep. Hill said. “We can’t let another Arkansas family be devastated by this crisis, and this bill, coupled with a community-wide effort, will help fight this epidemic.”
H.R. 5459, which has 11 cosponsors — including U.S. Reps. Lamar Smith (R-TX), Randy Hultgren (R-IL), and Tom Cole (R-OK) — has been referred to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, and the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. S. 2635 is under consideration by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, which held an April 11 hearing on the measure.