Two amendments offered by U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI) that would help end fentanyl-related overdoses on July 21 received approval from the U.S. House of Representatives as part of the chamber’s fiscal year 2023 “minibus” appropriations package.
“We must keep these incredibly dangerous drugs off our streets. In order to stop the flow of illicit fentanyl coming into our communities, we need to secure the border, support law enforcement, and make fentanyl-related substances a permanent Schedule I drug,” Rep. Steil said. He added that his amendments included in the FY 2023 appropriations package “are an important step in combating this dangerous substance.”
The House on Thursday voted 220-207 to pass the FY 2023 minibus appropriations package, which includes six appropriations bills for: Agriculture, Transportation-HUD, Interior-Environment, Financial Services, Military Construction-VA, and Energy & Water Development.
Specifically, Rep. Steil’s first amendment would transfer $5 million in federal funds to restrict the illicit importation of opioids, including fentanyl, through international mail facilities and land ports-of-entry, according to the summary offered by Rep. Steil’s office. The funding would be offset by transferring funds from the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
The second amendment would transfer another $5 million to the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program to help decrease overdoses from fentanyl, the summary says, noting that the funds would be offset from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Departmental Offices Salaries and Expenses account.
Rep. Steil is also a cosponsor of the Republican-led, bicameral Halt All Lethal Trafficking of (HALT) Fentanyl Act, H.R. 6184 S. 3336, which would permanently schedule fentanyl-related substances as a Schedule I drug.
Introduced in both houses of Congress in December 2021, the measure also would establish a new, alternative registration process for Schedule I research funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or that is conducted under an investigative new drug exemption from the Food and Drug Administration, according to the congressional record bill summary.