As the country’s opioid crisis rages, U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) is questioning the Biden administration about the nation’s increase in fentanyl-fueled overdose deaths, which according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reached 100,306 in the 12-month period from April 2020 to April 2021, representing a nearly 29 percent increase from deaths recorded in the same period a year earlier.
“Congress cannot ignore these shocking numbers, particularly because the Biden administration’s border policies are allowing fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances to cross our borders at unprecedented rates,” wrote Rep. McMorris Rodgers and her colleague, U.S. Rep. James Comer (R-KY), in Jan. 11 letters sent to three top administration officials. “We write to you today to request information about what led to the dramatic increase in overdose deaths and to better understand efforts to fight our country’s opioid crisis.”
Rep. McMorris Rodgers, ranking member of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Comer, ranking member of the U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee, wrote that Republican members of their committees “refuse to stand by as the Biden administration’s overbearing lockdowns and mandates, ineffective economic policies, lack of border enforcement, and drug cartels destroy and take the lives of hundreds of Americans every day.”
To assist Congress in its oversight work, the lawmakers requested the preservation of all documents and communications related to the drug crisis, any information on steps the Biden administration is taking to address the flow of illicit drugs, and immediate briefings from Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Rahul Gupta; U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Chris Mangus; and Anne Milgram, administrator at the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
According to the DEA, illicit drug trafficking along the nation’s southern border by Mexican Transnational Criminal Organizations is the greatest threat to the U.S. drug market, the lawmakers wrote, noting that the CBP seized more than 11,000 pounds of illicit fentanyl there last year, a 42 percent increase over fiscal year 2020.
“While illicit fentanyl flows across our borders at unprecedented rates, the number of people experiencing depression, anxiety, and trauma continues to skyrocket,” Rep. McMorris Rodgers and her colleague wrote. “The government-imposed lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic intensified the drug overdose problems in many ways: increased isolation, increased barriers to treatment, school closures, job loss, economic instability, loss of support systems, and the loss of family and friends.”