Transcripts For CSPAN Jelly 20240705

Announcer coming up tonight on cspan, a look at the fentanyl epidemic and possible legislation to stop opioid smuggling, and former President Trump speaks toaud trial in new york city. Later House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries on the legislative agenda, including efforts to find the federal government beyond a january 19 deadline. That and more tonight on cspan. Announcer musician jason deford appeared before a committee to testify on how opioid addiction is affecting communities, advocating for fentanyl awareness. This is just under 2. 5 hours. The committee will come to order. Thank you all witnesses, all ofe audience and members of this committee. The fentanyl crisiisthe greatesl of our communities every year. 5000 ohioans, one state alone, 5000 died from unintentional Drug Overdoses in 2022, staggering 110,000 americans lost their lives as a result of unintentional overdose. A mome ago mr. Deford said it every day. Imagine each year, losing a city nearly the size of dayton, ohio or north charleston, or billings, montana or wellington. Wilmington, north carolina. Behind those numbers, most tragically are stories of families torn apart, of parents losing a teenager before they graduateigh school, of grandparents stepping into rays raise grandchildren. No matter where you come from, pretty much everyone has a fentanyl story. We have all lost someone or know somebody who has lost someone. It is a crisis that cuts acrossy across all partisan divides. It is why it will continue to be a top priority of thisi think mk on that. With Ranking Member scott and the entire committee and now 67 cosponsors, we worked in a bipartisan way to design a new sanctions program to fend off fentanyl that can help reduce the flow of fentanyl into the community. Under this committee, so our purview, as you know, is often money, we use that authority to hit the cartels and chemical suppliers directly where it hurts, their bank accounts. Our often money, we use that authority to hit the cartels and chemical suppliers directly where it hurts, their bank accounts. Drugs are billiondollar operations, our bill goes directly to those. The cartels in mexico traffic the fentanyl into the United States, chinese entities often help them launder the money for the mexican cartels. The new economic sanctions authority and Money Laundering which will be created by the fentanyl act of these components of the ■jfe and help stop it at its source before it ever reaches the communities. When we talk about sanctions, regimes and directing the Treasury Department to block assets, the discussion can get technical and pretty sterile far too quickly. Its why the focus of todays hearings on the human toll that illicit finance takes on a families and friends and tq today is why this work matters and why we must finish this job, and why we need to get this bill signed into law. We are going to testify about his personal experience and of munities that have be■een you didnt have a jelly roll testify Senate Banking committee on your 24 bingo card. But, few speak as eloquently about addiction, theres a reason why americans flocked to his music and concerts, he has a connection with people based on shared pain, shared challenges, shared hope. Today we will also hear from the president of the fraternal order of police, thank you for your work with r a host of things. Lawenforcement officers lived this crisis every day in their work, one of the best ways we support them is preventing fentanyl from flowing into the counities which they serve. Mr. Christopher will describe the trail fentanyl and its proceeds take. This crisis has many demands, everybody has a role to play, the three of you and so many others, sadly no single step is going to make this problem q 47co the business of false promises. What we do is take all of the above approach to reduce as much pain and save as many lives as possible. Tances incl cocaine, im a cosponsor of the combating illicit drugs act, to prohibit distributing illicit use, we should also pass my bipartisan power act which will provide state and local Law Enforcement with high tech portable fentanyl screening devices, i think, i have also hold it is clear that the mexican and chinese governments are not doing fentanyl. We need specific benchmarks for combating fentanyl trafficking in the Opioid Crisis and more information regarding the role of the recently announced Treasury Department counter sentinel strikeforce. Effectively monitor the administrations effort to stop fentanyl at its source. I call my colleagues to use the membership on committees to explore legislation to help us treat addiction and improve our Public Health response, stop the trafficking of illicit fentanyl into our communities. A crisis this multifaceted demands are sustained focus, it is to the 12 Million People who live in my state. It starts with getting the bill signed into law. Fentanyl , as i said, i think my colleagues e, we are a diverse group, is nothing this Committee Finds a complete unit amenity on. And our colleagues in the senate agree, passing this with overwhelming bipartisan support as a part of this senate and through the bill, the house needs to finish the job and geidents desk, it chance to show the people we serve that we can Work Together and put partisanship aside and we can take action on things that actually matter to their lives. Families, Law Enforcement and all of the communities are counting on us, let the lets get this done. Thank you, and thank you for the shout out on the fentanyl legislation last night at your concert. It is important for americans to come together around such an important issue, ending the fentanyl crisis that is devastating family after family after family. I think specifically of charleston, south carolina, a i to fentanyl. The devastation that has ravished the family is immeasurable, and anything that we can do as a body to make commonsense reforms, to hold those accountable and to stop the cash flow that funds fentanyl is absolutely essential that we get it done right now. And unfortunately, we are here today having another hearing on fentanyl because our friends on the other side of the capital, because of the last year didnt get the bill included in legislation that would have made this, i believe, a law already. It is incredibly unfortunate a game played inwashington, ll especially on something so important. And i think he and i probably dont agree on very much most consistently but i will 23 of u unanimously on this committee, having 68 of us on the same piece have a chance to get it done, its not just frustrating to those of us on this committee, those of us in congress, it is people of our country who watch the devastation eat away at their communities. Congress needs to come together to stop the mexican cartels, mo organizations from profiting off of the production and trafficking of fentanyl, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of americans. Put simply, we should all value the health, safety and security of destruction fentanyl has caused across the United States, it is trdata shows that in 2022, 75,000 americans lost fentanyl. 1500 south carolinians in 2022 alone, the National Death toll equates to losing the entire city of wilmington, delaware. The president s hometown, each year, just from overdoses of fentanyl. And for every life lost, our Community Feels the impact. It impacts the mothers, brothers, fathers, chdr have lost a loved one and they are trying to pick up the pieces because we have a southern border that is so wide fentanyl coming right through it. Fentanyls impacted every single one of us personally. I would say that probably half the room knows someone who knows someone whose lives have been devastated and families have been destroyed because of fentanyl. But, lets take a look at how we got to this point over the last several years. Under this Current Administration, america is facing the worst border crisis the president s disastrous national crisis. The cbp reports fentanyl seizures have soared over 86 since 2019. Our Border Patrol and dea are working as hard as they can seizing record amounts of fentanyl at the ports of entry, every amount seized, we know even more is trafficked on our streets. That is why we must take a two y prong approached to addressing the fentanyl crisis. Number one, we must tackle the front by securing ■re our borde that is why i have orderedthe Public Health emergency and Overdose Prevention act as well as the secure the border act of 2023, these would expedite the processing of removal of migrants illegally entering the country and bolsteures along th border. Number two, we must attack the criminal financing of the fentanyl trade by enforcing our money unand sanction laws, that is where this Banking Committee comes into play. My ability to move this act is critical to helping stop this thank you for working together in a bipartisan fashion for the health of this nation. Vc■u it makes combating fentanyl a top priority for the United States and was enacted our an laundering tools against illicit mexican and chinese organizations that traffic deadly fentanyl. Follow the money is a tried e strategy that must be employed more forcefully to combat fentanyl trafficking in the United States. Cartels and criminals that profit fromour devastating losses must be stopped. And to do that, we have to hit them where it hurts and at their wallets. The illicit money engine needs to be turned off and it needs to be turned off now. Fentanyl act makes clear what we all know too well, the be sis facing america is a treated as a National Health emergency. Am wait. I am grateful we have a panel here today that is willing to share their perspectives, ■uhp personal stories, and support for our legislation. I look forward to hearing from each witness on this critically important topic. Thank you senator scott. I want to introduce todays witnesses, thank you for joining us, jason is a twotime grammy 1nominee and cmt music awards winner, and he sings about those facing drug addiction, he speaks with and for people struggling with addiction across the nation, thank you for joining us and thank you for serving your nation. And president yoes , with pivotal law enforcemenand mr. C special agent in charge of dea, a recoizexpert on anti Money Laundering the public. We will start with mr. Deford, welcome. Your First Committee hearing, i assume. Forgive me, im a little rock n roll band behind me when i have a microphone in front of me. During the time i have been given to share my testimony, i think it is important to note before i start, for at least five minutes i will be speaking, somebody in the will die of a Drug Overdose and theres almost a 72 chance that during those five minutes, itll be fentanyl related. Ranking mem scott and community members, thank you for having me, my name is jason deford, but to most i am known as jelly roll. It is important to establish that i am a musician and i have no political mind, neither democrat or republican, and my right to vote has been restricted, therefore i have never paid attention to a political race in my life. Ironically, i think that makes me the perfect person to spea about this because fentanyl transcends partisanship and ideology. This is a totally different problem. And i was speaking outside to the media and to set a statistic,about a 737 aircraft plane, could you imagine the national atwere reported of a plane crash every day and killing 190 people . But, because it is drug addicts, we dont feel that way, because america is known to bully and shame drug addicts,instead of dealing with and understanding the root of the problem. But the sad news is, the narrative is changing because the two statistics say that in all likelihood, almost every person in this room has lost a friend, Family Member or colleague to the disease known as addiction. I have attended more funerals than i care to share with yall, i coul about the caskets i have carried and the people i love, dearly, deeply, in my soul, good people. Not just drug addicts. Normal people. Some people that just got into a car wreck and started taking a pain pill to manage it, one thing led to another, how fast the spirals out of control and i dont think people truly understand. Many people, equall think it is important to tell defend the use of Illegal Drugs and i also understand the paradox of my history as a drug dealer standing in front of thi but equally, i think that is what makes me perfect to talk about this. I was a part of the problem. I am here now standing as a man that wants to be a part of the solution. I brought my community down. I hurt people, i was the uneducated man in the kitchen playing chemist with drugs i knew nothing about, just like these drug dealers are doing right now when they are mixing every drug on the market with p i will be honest with you, my desires only get older and only to do better and be better, truly believed selling drugs was a victimless crime. My father always c9 what doesnt get you in the wash will get you in the rinse, i whose mother is a drug addict, every days i get to look in the by drugs. And everything today i have to wonder with my wife, if today will be the day thwill be become a national statistic. And even as a teenager, you could have never convinced me in that moment there would be a far bigger problerm of a pharmaceutical drug and then i watched opioids and oxycontin burst on the scene. Im here to tell yall that fentanyl is going to make the Sackler Family look like saints. I want to let you all sit with that for a second. For us to be proactive and not reactive, we were reactive with crack and opioids and somebody in senate is finally being proactive. I truly believe in my heart that this bill will stop the supply and can help stop the supply of fentanyl but in part of being proactive, i have to be frank and tell you all that if we dont talk to the other side of capitol hill and stop the demand, we are going to spin our tires in the mud. I entside of this room, take it to your colleagues and constituents and you give them the most that you can. I know i have a few seconds here and senator brown said i may or may not go over. All i want to say is that i not only encourage you all to do this, i encourage you to because i have witnessed the heartbreaking impact of fentanyl. I see sams fans grappling with this tragedy and i hope that their experiences wont befall others, thcr im here to they crave reassurance that their elected officials actually care more about human life than they do about ideology and partisanship. I stand here as a regular mber im a stupid songwriter but i have witnessed this in a way mo encourage you to not only pass this bill but bring it up whe it matters, at the kitchen table. Thank you mr. Deford. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to provide a Law Enforcement perspective on how we can step out our efforttothe fentanyl epidemic that is killing americans at an alarming rate. In 2021, more than 100,000 americans died , 65 have been institute of drug abuse, overdose death rates exploded between 2015 and 2021 by nearly 750 . Fentanyl and fentanyl analogs were found to be the main driver of overdoses , and in 2022, estimated to be at 110,000. Primarily from synthetic opioids like fentanyl, making them the leading cause of death of americans 18to 49. Chemical sourced by china to manufacture pills that are intentionally made to look like Prescription Medications like oxycontin, percocet and xanax. The Drug Enforcement administration estimates that of these 40 to 6 are often bought on social media and are laced with a deadly dose of fentanyl. Taking just one of these can be lethal. Overdose deaths continue to ■6 rise despite joint efforts by dea and the u. S. Department of Homeland Security, both have partnered with state and local Law Enforcement agencies to prevent similar opioids from getting into our communities. The dea estimates that it seized more than 370 9000 potentially deadly doses of fentanyl ntanyl analogs, the death toll continues to rise. As Law Enforcement officers, my members on the first frontline, we are typically the first to respond to a 911 call about a potential overdose. Sanctity of life. Many, but not enough officers have access that can reverse the overdose if given in time. Law enforcement officers and other emergency medical responders likely save hundreds ross isthousands of lives single day. Sadly, law enrcement officersn] experience every facet of this devastating drug, we work to stem the flow of fentanyl into the communities, to save the lives of those tragedy strikes, deliver the news to the family of their loved ones that were killed. We recognize the nature of the threat and what our country is facing. We to end or mitigate the deadly impact of fentanyl in our citizens. We need to a National Strategy to reduce overdose, disrupt traffic operations, attack traffickers of cartels and prioritize Money Laundering efforts related to the illicit opioid trade. The fraternal order of police was proud to work with Ranking Member scott and chairman brown to develop senate bill 1271 and could not be, could not empathize enough the need to get this legislation moved. It has bipartisan support, and so it should. And it should be passed by this senate as quickly as possible. The fend off fentanyl act would target the supply chain from chemical suppliers in china to the cartels enmexico smuggling into the United States, by requiring the president to impose and enforce sanctions on criminal actors the likelihood that those who defy the law will be caught and prosecuted. We also support the use of lawfully forfeited assets of these traffickers to further larcement efforts to combat these criminals. The bill authorizes the Treasury Department to use special measures to combat Money Laundering operations related to the trafficking of fentanyl and similar opioids. This would reduce the profitability of drug trade and bring those profiting from the deaths of american citizens to justice. All of these measures and tools in senate bill 1271 will reduce suffer and die from fentanyl. And other deadly illicit opioids. And that should be our number one goal. We can and must reduce the loss addiction of the drug in the supply chain. We need all of these tools in our toolbox to handle this deadly epidemic. To change the subject briefly, i want to thank you for your leadership in senate 1514 which would create a home loan benefit program for First Responders and administrators based on the United States depart veterans affairs, the Program Available to veterans of our nation. It is important to our members to address the recruiting challenges that Law Enforcement is facing and i would be remiss if i didnt take the opportunity to ■mention that thank you for the opportunity to be here today ensure the perspective of 373,000 members of the fraternal order of police on this issue and im more than happy to answer any questions you have. Thank you, we are going to s act until it happens, mr. Urben, welcome and thank you for joining us. Thank you for the opportunity to address you on additional to combat the massive threat of fentanyl and other narcotics trafficking. This drug poses an enormous threat to the homeland, it has murdered hundreds of thousands of americans, destabilized mexico, destroyed communities and harmed the integrity of our financial institutio. 7bsignific fend off fentanyl act are needed to address it. I witnessed the damage done by organized crime and Drug Trafficking firsthand during my 24 year career with the dea, we targeted leadership of Transnational Criminal Organizations that were trafficking drugs in the u. S. And laundering crime proceeds through u. S. Financial institutions. To the dea special operations division. I formed a team that was focused on a new and evving threat, chinese Money Laundering organizations, we took this step because we were receiving reports from the field that mexican drug cartels are using chinese Money Laundering networks in increasing amounts to launder their cash. Agents in the field reported that chinese money launderers guaranteed immediate payment to the traffickers in their home countries at a cost of only 1 to 2 , that was previously unheard of. This new model was a dramatic improvement for the mexican cartels. Because they achieved greater profits, more quickly with less risk than more traditional forms of moneylaundering such as the black market here is how every day in the United States, the proceeds from the sales of fentanyl and other dangerous form of cash. Those proceeds are delivered to a chinese ydering broker in the u. S. So they can be laundered. Once that is received by that money broker, the funds are advanced to the mexican cartels in mexico, they are made whole at that point. Chinese moneylaundering organization then sells those u. S. Dollars to chinese customers who want to spend money in the United States. This money can be used to fund investment, to buy real estate, cars, paying College Tuition and purchasing chips at a casino. These chinese customers pay a broker in china for the cash they purchased within the United States. Funds received by brokers from customers in china are used to buy goods for experts in mexico or another country where in mexico, or another company usede by transnational crime, they are sold in the proceeds are delivered to another chinese moneylaundering broker, in this example, in mexico and it retus they already advanced to the mexican cartel. The chinese money launderers accomplish all of this quickly and efficiently. I refer the committee to my written submission which contains a simple five graphic depicting this scheme. What makes this scheme so effective and ha to detect . First, it minimizes the movement of funds, dollars dont leave the u. S. , pesos dont leave mexico. Second, it takes advantage of the huge increasing volume of trade with china. Third, it uses technology to its advantage. Via wechat that is encrypted an ciMoney Laundering network. Fourth, it exploits the fact that Financial Institutions and other domestic recipients ■■of with chinese moneylaundering networks. That said, the scheme has several potential vulnerabilities that are not fully exploited but could be with the aid of the fend act and other changes. Proceeds never leave the u. S. And can be frozen or seized. Financial institutions, transactional, organizations and chinese moneylaundering organizations maintain detailed transaction data that can be exploited by Law Enforcement with the aid of targeting analysts and dacurrent employer helping the Business Community understand and combat the threat posed by the cartels and enablers but more federal guidance, more sanctions, more enforcement activity and more resources are the fend act addresses each of these needs. Thank you for your time and consideration, i look questions any future discussions with the committee about this important issue. Thank you, i will begin with deford, through your music, you have managed to make people feel heard by speaking about the challenges americans face. You used the term, your man of service, i have heard you say that publicly and privately, i of your recovery, you need to have a group of people speaking for them that look like them. We have experts who speak to numbers and staff but your point of view, describe the everyday struggle of addiction. Its nothing less than devastating. It is truly the biggest crisis i have seen in er im almost 40 years old, senator brown and senator scott, i have lived long enough to see almost every form of drug that has come across since the 80s. And i grew up in a household that had multiple addicts and alcoholics in that household. I have seen drugs from an early age and i can tell you that every alcoholic and of every drug i have seen, nothing holds a candle to what is happening with fentanyl in the United States. Im seeing people shattered, families are broken. It is important to note that the real victim, there is a quote that says, the addict isnt the only person in the family that suffers from the symptoms of addiction, the enti family suffers. The entire family rallies around the addict and carries that. The addict is not the only victim in this, it spreads far. Thank you, most of us cannot sing that well but what we can do is legislate. What kind of signal is sent to struggle to feel heard if we come together in both houses as we have in senate. If we can do that in the house, what kind of signal will be sent to the people whom you are fighting for . It is immeasurable because from the house side looking in, we dont see nothing happening in d. C. Except fights. All we see is war and division. And it makes us ■viefeel unhear and unseen and it makes us feel like our problems will always be caught in the middle of some kind of partisan issue. And you coming together, this committee has taken the first step that i think can be the beginning of the change that is needed in america, not justis i bipartisan bill that needs to be spoken about, but there are many mountains behind that that must be spoken about, too. And i applaud you for taking the first step. And me beinfor many people, we feel heard. They feel like they have a voice inwaday and i carry that with pride as i stand here with you all. Thank you, president yoes , tell us about how this crisis affects your office, both . Physical threat and the psychological burden of dealing with overdoses and the devastation caused to families and communities by fentanyl. ■qsenator, it really is two parts, one of them i will talk briefly, the potential of exposure to our members, just in normal enforcement coming into contact with it. But, thone that i guess we underestimate, Law Enforcement officers are human, we struggle with a lot of things as well and trying to fix the problem, trying to assist those that are overdosing and then having to deal with the families after to carry this tragedy back to them, we are human anit takes a toll on us as well and it is happening over and over and over. And that repetitive effort, repetitive action to our members, it takes its the Mental Wellbeing of our officers as well. It is time to get a handle on this. Every single day, is it 1000 people, 500, 110,000 . Because that last year. We need the tools to address it on multiple levels, not just in the enforcement side but also the familiesand those that are affected by it as well. This has to be a multifaceted approach, every wheel needs to be working and we need to take away the profit of those that are profiting from the slaughter of americans and we need to take it away, as long as it is profitable, they are going to continue to do it. Thank you. When i talked, i heard that all the time, frome■nofficers from ashtabula, cincinnati, other Police Officers from toledo to athens, thank you for saying that. Mr. Urben , you described the following of the money, we have both talked about this, from china and mexico, how the money makes its way into all three fe attack that, how does this bill help us follow thmone it is off operations against the Money Laundering networks, certainly in my career, following the money is what led me to success against transnational organized crime around the globe, whether it be russia, hezbollah, but, the common theme i have heard is unite as a country, what i suggest is imposing justice on our adversaries, it is always said is fighting satisfying bringing them and in terms of the send act themselves, sanctions can impose costs on the mexican sanctions usually take 6 to nine months, but with the funding and the focus that i something more like 4 to 6 weeks. Whether it be the mexican cartels, the chinese precursors or the Chemical Companies. The additional oversight would allow Law Enforcement to 1■÷ connect the dots and i can get into data targeting later but, the additional oversight that offend act wants to have in institutions will allow Law Enforcement to target these networks better. Senator scott. Thank you, you mentioned wechat and the role in moving the money around. Can you expand upon that a little bit . I want to the example that i gave and it allows for speed and trust within the network. So, never in my career with the dea has a criminal organization had the benefit of an encrypted Global Network that they can ■n e on. Anwhat i mean by trust is, u. S. Law enforcement does not have the ability to intercept wechat , we 0 cannot wiretap it so compare that to 10 or 15 years ago, when i ran the team to attack the black Market Peso Exchange, you could wiretap the network. You cant do that with wechat. The speed i talked about and the example i gave earlier these transactions or communications happen within a day. It used to take 7 to 10 days, but wechat allows for that speed because it is trusted within the moneylaundering network to communicate, they can rely on the person they are speaking with, as a person they complete that transaction , again, the black Market Peso Exchange and forced the movement of money that would flow from violence. You dont have violence, the chinese moneylaundeng have terms. Whether it is additional legislation or a negotiated the government, we need to be able to impact wechat so its not a benefit to the chinese moneylaundering. Thank you very much, that is such an important part of the conversation, how money can move around with total ■3privac and a very rock solid system that eludes or evades capturing Law Enforcement in our country deeper dive into solutions for that as we have an opportunity to talk later on as well. Thank you very much. Jelly roll, quick question for you, as you know, your family in charleston, they are very Close Friends of mine. Jelly ro thing they said that is authentic, he is sincere and he speaks about the issues that impacted his life. As a kid who grew up in poverty, i will say that sometimes the unseen and unheard feel invisible. And you are making visible those who still today feel like because of who they are, where are somehow invisible. The challenge of course with drug addiction is it doesnt know a class or race or place. It p6 everywhere. Can you talk about the fact that indeed, what we are talking about today impacts across all segments of our society and in a devastatingly. Thank you, i was hoping to share this, so you bringing it up mes i had the opportunity to dozens of rehab facilities and jails and prisons, every time we do a show in the city, we go to the local rehab to sing songs and encourage peop. Ll you with certainty, i have seen everything from governors children in the same rehab, as kids that have been homeless since they were 12. It has finally reached the point, like i said, we used to look at addicts and shame them but now it is hard to because the rest of the world is realizing that the attic is actually their nephew, their cousin, and they know their cousin was a good person. Cousin they know. Senator scott, chairman brown, i assure you that this touches every single human, white, black, every ethnicity, every race, everywhere in the United People and that is why you are doing is so important, it is bringing people together, it is making seen felt seen, and we cant thank you enough for it. Thank god that congress can come together, not nonpartisan way to address the issues and the challenges facing americans all over this country, and i certainly hope that my friends in the house are paying attention today because it not already travesty and i hope my colleagues will take up this sendoff fentanyl and get it done. Thank you mr. Chairman. I think in order to combat the crisis, it is important to understand how these opioids are getting bain country. Mr. Urben, is it accurate to say that thcking comes into the country to official ports of entry . Most of the fentanyl comes through official ports, it usually comes across the mexican border. But of entry . A majority probably does, yes, sir. In 2021, over 90 of fentanyl seizures occurred at legal crossing points. Just 279 out of 1. 8 million arrests by Border Patrol of illegal border crossings resulted in fentanyl seizure. So it seems to me, in the first place, if we are serious about one of the elements of this challenge, is stopping ■ fentanyl fr coming into the United States , we would significantly increase resources to combat the flow of fentanyl across the border. We would think about dramatically enhancing our Technology Capability at those official points of entry where the vast majority, the 1. 8 million arrests were taking place. And that would help us dramatically stem flow. In order to make Real Progress in the fight against fentanyl , we must hold fore governments such as china and mexico accountable to their commitments to crackdown on producers and traffickers of synthetic opioids. In november at the apec summit, china released the bilateral than words at this point, from your experience, what has china done to crackdown on Chinese Pharmaceutical Companies that manufacture fentanyl and fentanyl precursors . There has been limited action within china from my perspective since i left government in terms of doing that, during my time in government, i did not have insight with china in terms ■of we had certainly an office within the embassy for dea ion chinese Law Enforcement, we are trying to build that relationship. How about mexico, what have they ■done to crackdown on the drug cartels that makes fentanyl with other drugs and smuggle them into the United States . So, i think in a very difficult situation concerning the cartels power and reach and ability to corrupt Mexican Government components, they have done to some degree what they can under the circumstances but it has been very limited in terms of their the ability of the mexican cartels to traffic fentanyl. These are two of our big challenges, the answer is not enough, i appreciate that President Biden raised the issue with president xi at summit. And while last year i a strengt fentanyl act to extend those parties, we have to deal with issues domestically and put pressure on them and certainly the send off fentanyl act is a very strong start, but i think theres other things we can do as well. Lastly, i would like to echo the chairmans support for the fendoff fentanyl act , it builds on existing laws to better combat the flow of illicit opioids into the United States, i would like to highlight a provision that i got into the ll treasury to report on actions taken by the peoples republic of china with respect to persons involved in the supply chain for fentanyl and fentanyl precursors. We cant not solve the fentanyl crisis within our borders alone, we have to address the International Components of the supply chain as well. And do you believe those provisions of the bill of the fendoff fentanyl act the bor important as well . I th support your statement that we have to essentially attend these networks outside the country to help protect the country, the sanctions component that you spoke about is something that needs to be m greater in scale, i mean dramatically greater in scale withto 9 months, you want to dramatically increase the scale and the targeting and sa against these networks, whether it is chinese precursor chemical facilitators, e anybod thats helping to facilitate this, with a variety of components. Thank you. Mr. Deford, where did you grow up . I lived in depriest lake, are you familiar . Yes, class i think they call it Country Meadows now. I lived right next to apollo apartments, im very familiar with that part. I also had friends that got convicted for Drug Trafficking and had one after Substance Abuse really took his life. One thing i have noticed, one thing you said that i think is very important, you said you see a lot of fights apthat i ho get you updated on. Are selfmedicating. They have trauma problems and they have a lot of challenges. Year, on a bipartisan basis, some of the folks voted for it. It is working very well. And it has helped to expand Behavioral Health access. We need to help educate states like tennessee. I live now in north carolina. We continue these fights. There is some good stuff that came out of his chamber on a bipartisan basis that will save lives. We will not spend time educating but i would love to have the opportunity to educate you on this so that we make sure it gets implement it well in tennessee. I am doing my part in north carolina. Thank youfor the opportunity to speak with you. I believe that Mental Health and drug addiction go handin hand. We have this bill, in a pilot form. And about seven years ago, we had a 50 ion in Mental Health incarcerations, 50 reduction, estate wise, that says a lot about folks getting into care. That really makes a difference. You. K forward to also i think that talking about the border, there is a fight going on right now on security. This is why you should be concerned. Cartels are charging people fareto get across, they are making, according to the bea, someone somewhere on billion the border. They are making ultralights they are landing, coming across the southern border, lending, dropping off drugs. Senator menendezis right, the majority are coming through legal ports of industry. Part of it can be fixed by technology, and part of it can bewith legal ports of entry. We have to realize that we have to fix this and we have china a accountable. Mr. Urban, the, thehave to continue to pound the drum that china is poisoning over 100,000 people per year. Jason deford said, the majority are ing from fentanyl. What more can we do to disrupt the Money Laundering . The cartels, the mexican cartels do not launder money the way they used to. Now they call one 800 china and they have a where they are laundering the money before our very eyes. What sorts of policies can we take up to make that more difficult and more disruptive . We need to understand that when it comes to Money Laundering. Specifically, talking within the domestic United States. The procee that i spoke about,thin specific points in time and they always start right here within the United States. We need to attack their networks , the money, the proceeds, we do not focus on enough, that is ng is vulnerable, okay . In terms of attacking those networks, we need additional compliance and oversight. My time is limited, i want to submit a question to the record for you, because this is also a Public Safety issue of law enforcent. Going to have time. What isnt also going to require, i am not necessarily big on resolutions, but if we use of crypto and Digital Assets as a way of really masking the activities, do you agree with that . I certainly agree that crypto needs additional compliancethe Money Laundering that i spoke about. Mr. Urban, i wanted to thank you. And mr. Jason deford, it looks like we lived in the same trailer park. We have a common background. I need help educating people. Not one and done, excuse me. You pass a bill and you hope something happened. I want to make sure what happened in the states that have implemented, excuse me, implemented the savers Community Act happen in tennessee and across the country. Yes sir, you have a friend like to talk. Mr. Jason deford, it is not obvious , but he graduated a few yearsjxvk before you. It is also maybe not obvious, he is the only one in the room as southern as im. Mber scott, i heard from senator kennedy, that is coming the chairman and Ranking Members for their leadership, not only for having this meeting, but also the bill, the fentanyl act. It is long past time that this bill get past. I think that it was said right, the shenanigans in the house need to ■stop and we need to ge some stuff done. I had a bill on china buying farmland and they stopped that. It was the wrong thing to do. Probably for political reasons, they did it, but why they would stop this makenome. We need to categorize fentanyl as the National Emergency that it is. We china accountable for their role in the crisis. We need to give Law Enforcement agents, order agents, the tools that they needto ccessful. I want to thank each and every one of our witnesses for being here and for your testimony. I think it is really important. Bit on what the senator was talking about, on the cash. The fentanyl, the fend off fentanyl act,b■1 big mb the house screwed up, which is what they do most of the time anyway. The cash issue, the Money Laundering issue, that is certainly not what you started to answer the question and i want you to finish off the answer. What do we need to do, on the Money Laundering aspects . Thank you, sir. I was talkin compliance, additionals tracking of seditious activities, and inaddition to that, there is a tremendous opportunity with data. You can pull the data that i amalout, t arrests. If you pull all of that data in, from search warrants, judicial process, laptops, phones, you can normalize that data and you can take out targeting packages im right . We are missing that opportunity with speed, we need to impact these organizations with speed, in terms of funding and approach, there is an opportunity to go after the chinese Money Laundering, the encrypted act that we talked about, we have to be able to surveil and intercept that. Lets go back to the aml. You are saying that a fair mone is going through our Banking System, our regulated Banking System . That is correct, when they sell the dollars back to a chinese customer that wants to invest or spend money in the states, the day before, those are the proceeds of the trafficking that we are talking about. It is going through the system. Okay, thank you. I want to thank you for your support of not only the f. E. N. D. Off fentanyl but the antidrugs act, we talked about the impact that it hason your fellow Police Officers handling this poison. And i have two questions. Number one, on the streets, from that standpoint, talk to me about how the f. E. N. D. Off fentanyl will make a difference. Senator, the age old problem that we have, and criminal enterprisethpace that is much f than we can make and fix problems, i think that this act isso very important, because it gives us extra tools to combat this. The reality is, this is going to be the first step. This is an illusion. In order for us to have any meaningful impact, we need to do two things. It was spoken about earlier. We have to operate at a faster pace. There is no reason that anyone here in washington should be against finding ways to save and protect americans from this crisis. It needs to move at a much faster pace, if we are going to keep up with those people who we are trying to combat. The other side of it is, it is frustrating, you know, number one, being overloaded, trying to deal with the crisis and manage it with , along with all of the other challenges associated with the,w it will always outpace what our resources are and it is something that we need to put some attention to. This bill can go in the direction in orr to able to take. As long as we have something profitable to do this, we arbeh know, behind. We have to be able to break it up. I think when it comes down to really followin regardless, it is illusion. It will always evolve. There will always be new challenges. We need to be ahead of it and this bill puts us in the right direction. Mr. Jason deford, i am out of time. I want to say thank you very muday to impact lives for the better in this country is something we need to take notice of. I dont know if you have ever been to montana, anytime, anyplace, you are welcome to come up. I think your message needs to be held heard all ov country, including rule america. I would love to see you there. It is a pretty state. Oh man, it is heaven. Senator kennedy of louisiana is recognized. Candidly, gentlemen. There is not much that congress producing precursor chemicals, i have met with him personally in beijing and i do not think that it did much good. Candidly, there is not much that the United States congress can do to make president Lopez Obrador in xico stop the cartels. He knows what is going on. There are two things that we can do and first we meet in congress. We can secure the border. It is an opening wound, it is wide open. And it is wide open design. I have seen it. Most of the members of this committee have. But that is not what i want to talk about. Congress can do is crackdown on the dealers. Not the addicts, mr. Jason deford, but the dealers. Now, mr. Urban, do you see this pencil . Yes, sir. The tip of this the amount of fentanyl, just in the pencil tip, represented by t pencil tip will kill you, dead. Dead as fried chicken, mr. Jason deford. That is southern. You see this . 40 grams . Jpes, sir. This will kill every man, woman, and child in cuerep you are a dealer. This is 400 grams. This will kill every man, woman, and child in knoxville, tennessee. Now, you are a dealer. You are not holding this much fentanyl if you are not dealing. Now, 40 grams. This will get you, if you get caught, a minimum of five years. Okay . ÷q 400 grams, you get caught with this much, enough to kill every man, woman, and child in knoxville, and many more, before you step on it. This will get there is just one problem. We punish other drugs less severely than we do the most powerful drug, fentanyl. I mean, just look at it. 40 grams, five years. Fentanyl. 10 years. Methamphetamine . Five grams will get yo years. 50 grams will get you 10 years. Much less severely than fentanyl. We do the same thing for pcp. We do the thing same thing for crack cocaine. What you allow, gentlemen, is what will continue. I nsupport the fentanyl ratification act. The one we talked about today. But i also support Something Else. I support another bill, the fairnessin fentanyl sentencing act. And it would, it would lower the fiveyear mandatory minimum threshold from 40 grams of fentanyl to two grams. And it would lower 10year mandatory minimum from 400 grams to 20 grams. And we ought to pass it, too. Chairman brown, my 14 seconds. To, to make up for my past transgressions. It doesnt, but that is fine senator warren. ■vneed to tell you, my friends in louisiana make it very powerful issue. I agree with them. And was a little concerned that you cited folks of people dying in tennessee and virginia, but you may know analogy to the louisiana communities. We see this on the intel side. They have great quality control, and a few grams misplaced can make the difference between a drug experience and a death. This is the direction i am going to go today. I see, as chairman of the intelligence committee, how often and i do not start with a huge bias against crypto. But boy oh boy, the amount of times that crypto is used as a way to have these illicit payments made is something that we have got to grapple with. I think my friend from ■n■uc louisiana. I am going to start on maybe slightly a little bit lighter note. I want to acknowledge mr. Jason deford and personally thank him, i know you were in bristol, virginia recently, for a concert and that, you actual went next door to abington and you saw the Softball Team and cheered them on. I am grateful for that. I know recently, you were closer to richmond and you visited a prison in chesterfield. I would love if you could share briefly some of the experiences you felt, particularly with some of that Prison Community in chesterfield. The Heart Program is what it is called. The sheriff down there has his hand on what he is doing. He is focused on rehabbing drug addicts in jail. It is the only jail in the United States of america that will allow you to come in without a crime if you are just a drug addict who wants to get off the streets and no rehab will take you, you can come in and join the Heart Program to get sober. I think that is incredible. I do that as often as i can at the saddest part, you just see the same thing, heartbreak and despair. It was just incredible. That guy in chesterfield, that sheriff really has his hand on the pulse of what is happening in america. Thank you for sharing the story. Respectfully, not for a pat on the back, we donated the proceeds for the show that night, we cut the Heart Program in chesterfield i think a 30,000 check. And also thank you fo i would pay to go to the championship, i will always be cheering for them. On a serious note, because it is all serious now. I am sure, many in the intelligence committee, one too we have in the intelligence community, it is section 702, mr. Chairman, i was recently in israel, jordan, saudi arabia, and 702 is being used, not just daily, but was hourly. In our efforts, and helping our israeli friends ferretout some of that hamas leadership. But 702 has also been critically important in exposing the role that the mexican drug cartels play. Frankly, in exposing the active engagethe chinese government. I know that my clock is ticking here. Everybody involved you dont, the drugs, realizes 702 is a critical and i have put forward a broad, bipartisan reform bill that protects the privacy of americans and eliminates the ability to use any of this information to prove any kind of criminal and it changes, remember, 702 is one foreigner talking to another foreigner abroad. My clock is ticking down, if were to lose that 702 capacity, our ability to give you the kind of enforcement tools that you need against the bad guys . Senator, the short answer is, it takes a very important tool out of our toolbox in order to combat this crisis. I second that we are at a disadvantage, cartels, this would put us at a greater disadvantage. You need that tool. E open for reform, but the idea that you have to have it search wanted before you act on any of this information. Wrinkly, the vast majority of inadvertent in the form of victim notification. Victims of Cyber Attacks from foreign entities. Those of our colleagues, th that e otherwise, i hope they will give me a chance to make critical tool is, not only in terms of the president s daily beat, and conflict around the world, but in terms of getting Law Enforcement the tools they need to go at and, mr. Deford, thank you again. Senator haggerty. Welcome to all of you today, i would like to start with you, mr. Deford. First of all, i would like to congratulate you on being named the cma new artist of the year, that is quite an award. Welcome to you. I would like to stay on our state for a minute. Our state is facing a grave threat from Drug Overdoses. We have the number two mortality rate in the nation, in tennessee. According to the Tennessee Department of health, the majority of these overdoses are linked to illicit feessee sheriffs, they tell me that each month is worse than the month before it, in terms of Drug Overdoses and drug and if i can get to what is causing this, the fentanyl is being made from chinese precursors, coming into mexico where it is manufactured there, and it is then being smuggled across the southern border. In 2023, customs and border protections seized 26,000 pounds of fentanyl southern border that is the only amount that we are catching. Senator menendez talked about the amount that we are catching at the points of entry, that is where we have sophisticated equipment to screen. What is evident, with the rising death toll that we have, more and more is flooding across the border, beyond the points of; entry. We need to use our resources across the border. I would like to come back to you, mr. Deford, and to your experiences. Herein d. C. , i think there is a disconnect between what is in washington and what the american citizens are actually experiencing across the country. I think your unique experience can help bridge the divide. By your opening remarks. In particular, your comments about addressing the demand for fentanyl, as well as the talki bill that addresses the supply, would love to get your perspective on how we would address the demand. I know that you have thought a great deal about this. First of all, senator hagerty, it is incredible to meet you. , i am very respectful of all that you have done for the stated not only do we have the second biggest mortality rate intidangerous metropolis after baltimore. I had a meeting with our mayor recently. Just to the actual demand of it, i dont think there are enough resources for people to learn about it and there is not enough affordable Rehabilitation Centers in the state of tennessee. I think we are scheduled to hang out with each other soon and i would love to discuss that with you. But, i live in a very bad juxtaposition, i understand drug dealer and the attic, because i have played the position of both. Unrelated to senator kennedys point, i believe that it is about as as backwards as it can be, excuse my language. And i see this bill as ply. But, we do have a whole problem, senator hagerty. I look forward to continuing our discussion when we meet later today. Thank you, i am excited. Ne talk about how we deal with violations. On december 16, 2022, attorney general garland released a new doj policy that restricts mandatory sentences, discouraging prosecutors from charging the most serio approv the policy states, quote, it applies, with particular force fentanyl traffickers. So, my question, to you, mr. Ei refuse to prosecute or they refuse to prosecute for softer crimes . The majority of Violent Crime in every community is created by a very small percentage o that is certainly what the sheriff and the chief of police of memphis told me, too and they know exactly who they are. When we are able to apply pressure and take people up the street who prey on the people within our community, we have an impact on the quality of life in the community and when we are unable to do so, we see the problems that we see these problems in cities across the country. It is a challenge for Law Enforcement to put our efforts into trying to make our communities safe, only to see a revolving door in the drug need to recognize that what we are doing is not working, apply enough pressure, it eliminates some of this activity and the quality of life goes up. Does the failure to strictly enforce drug crime laws tend o it is connected every quality of life area in the community, to somehow recognize by the drug trade, within our area, and view it as a nonViolent Crime, that is not accurate. It is clearly leading to more debts on our streets. Setor warren ■ of massachusetts is recognize. Thank you for holding this hearing. Fentanyl killed more than 78,000 americans lt year including more than 2300 people in massachusetts. And crypto helps fund that death ■ytoll. Crypto plays a role at every stage in the illicit fentanyl trade. Chinese Companies Sell the chemical ingredients used to make fentanyl to drug cartels and they get paid and crypto. ■u the drug cartels and the traffickers sell their deadly drugs in the darkest marketplaces, and they are paid in crypto, to the tune of about 1. 5 billion in 2022. And drug kingpins by weapons and cars and they make payoffs, again, using crypto. Administrations dea spotted this problem five years ago, and in thr 2018 brett a freshman threat assessment, they said cartels offer a relatively secure method formoving proceeds around the world with much less risk, compared to traditional methods. And since then, the probm has only gotten worse. Take one case, last year, the department of justice indicted a cartel member, who laundered more than 900,000 in crypto by directing their u. S. Drugbased careersto deposit cash straight into the cartels crypto accounts. And what do they then tu around and use that crypto for . They reinvested in the fentanyl factory, so they could put more fentanyl to ed states. Now, mr. Es, thank you for your work and for the work of hundreds of thousands of Police Officers in the United States, who are on the front lines of the Opioid Crisis. You have seen the various tricks that drug traffickers use , to move their drug money around. So, if i can, let me ask you, why do you think Cartel Members find crypto such an attractive option . Well, senator, thank you, thank you you the comments. I do not betray myself as an expert. But what we see is illusion. Crypto today, Something Else later. It is the next thing, in Law Enforcement, we follow the kes follow the money. I think, the fact that it is, you know, emerging, there are a lot of things to be figured out about this. And i think that is what the appeal to it is, we are a little behind in truly understanding how to use itin a way that helps us combat. All right, mr. Urban, you have decades of experience at dea, following illicit fentanyl funds. Why do you think that crypto has become so attractive . It allows for speed. So, you can move it fast, unlike cash, which you have to physicallycaconceal, so there i and, to some degree, anonymity. They can transfer and move th asset anonymously, they are exploiting the lack of compliance and oversight, within the crypto industry. Just a lot it is easier to hide, yeah, correct. Make no mistake, drug traffickers are still moving cash the oldfashioneway, but crypto has changed the game by allowing criminals to move boatloads of money instantaneously and nearly anonymously. You know, no need stop 900,000 in cold, hard cash into a suitcase and worry about whether some customs agent will spot it. Cartel members can now move as much money as they want, using a handful of crypto wallets, our antilaundering money lu ha to move the dirty fentanyl money that backdoor is wide open and it is helping fuel the Opioid Crisis at home. Mr. Yoes, it cartels, drug dealers, and chinese Chemical Companies can keep exploiting laundering roles and keep funding the business with crypto, what is that going to mean, both for Law Enforcement and for families across this country . R, it is not a matter of can, they will. They will continue to do it until we find ways to close those gaps. It is about closing or including seven right here, are working to pass the Digital Asset antiMoney Laundering act that closes these loople crypto should not get a free pass. And i look forward to working with all of my colleagues to try to fix that. Despina mr. Chairman, can i ask for personal privilege, 10 seconds, is that okay, jd . One of my Staff Members is leaving for the private sector. Mary kershner and she is here today and i wanted to recognize her and thank her for her service. ■o senator vance. Thank you, senor congrats, mary, and thanks to the chairman for having this meeting r being here today. I want to focus on this questionnaire we talk about that know trafficking, in particular, and i worry a lot that we are always in this body, a few years behind what is always going on in think bac personal experience, with opioid addiction in my family. 10 years ago, what everyone was talking about was prescription painkillero, prescription painkillers were giving way to street heroin. Five years ago everyone was talking about street heroin, but heroin was giving way to fentanyl. And now we are talking about fentanyl, it is of course extremely a lot of our kids. But i wonder whether we are missing the next thing . I would like to maybe get ahead of the next■ thing. Worried about, and i am a i, zines . As they are commonly called on the street, and mr. Urban, nitro zines, or theyare substantially more potent than fentanyl, and i have talked to people in the past few days, r this stuff on the internet, they are dealing with a street drug that is substantially morec powerful than what we give pregnant women in the hospital, this is important stuff that people can order mail. I want to start out there, mr. Urban. I want to kind of understand, and i write to assume, that when the ccp started cracking down on fentanyl, under pressure from the trump administration, we actually s a pretty significant reduction of fentanyl coming into the country, from the ccp, is that correct . China coming in the a parcel from, yes, there was can you g what you are seeing, when it comes to nitazines are we seeing a larger amount of this stuff . What is going on . Am i right to worry that turn into unyl was five years ago . I think you are right to worry. I think your thought process in trying to get ahead of this and try to create speed to identify the network, and whether it bey whatever dea suggests, in terms of what they are seeing on the street, whether it be the streets of kensington. The cartels, whether it is the chinese chemical suppliers or the mexican cartels themselves will always look to exploit more deadlyand ask blse explicit substances. The ability to think ahead, plan ahead, you want to negate it. I am going to ask this question, recognizing that you work with the dea. Do not feel comfortable answering this question, let me i am to k think about why peopl deal drugs, the answer obviously is greed. That is one way to sell else. But you worry there is kind of a National Security or a ■d National Competitive element. I mean china, it is a fundamentally statecontrolled economy, do you think they are aware of what is going on . Are we witnessing Something Like a reverse opium war, where they are intentionally allowing the stuff to come into the country, because it is killing 120,000 people per year and it is significantly impairing a lot more than that . So, in general, when i was with the dea and i focused on the china threat, i did not have insights on mainline mainland china. However, i do think that it is a precursor, and everything that we are talking about th the Money Laundering, it could happen, it should have in common and it is not. At the risk of going pretty far out there, given the fact that china is a largely statee exactly easy to manufacture nitazines. I wonder if we are looking at Something Like a state sponsor of terrorism argument here, where they are explicitly permitting a weapon of mass destruction, a weapon of chemical warfare, effectively, to enter our country. Of course, that assumes a lot, some of which isaac we should be more careful about. Ould be much china knows that it is destabilizing our country, killing our people, and of course doing tremendous■c■o dam to our workforce. And we ought to be looking into this and really exerting whatever diplomatic pressure that we cannot be communist chineseto stop this stuff. I appreciate your time. I appreciate you answering my questions. I yield. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman, i want to begin by commending chairman brown and Ranking Member scott, for drafting and bringing to the floor, the f. E. N. D. Off fentanyl act. There are 60 of us who supported it. And i tried my best to get it included on the National Defense authorization act. Unfortunately, i believe as republicans in the house objected to it. We have to get it done. I would ask, again, with mr. Panel, to comment on why you think this legislation is so critical and how it would be helpful. First of all, i think ion i extremely helpful, because it is stopping the core of supply. It is stopping the supply chain and doing everything we can to put a kink in that. But equally, i think that any bill brin attention, i think, the most brilliant thing set up here, is with my friend next to me said, what does it take to make it a crisis . Will it be half 1 Million People per . I tell you what, we are pretty close. Thank you, mr. Yoes . The end re we are no questio front of us. No matter, every minute we take to discuss and argue about what is the proper path to go, we are losing lives and we are losing this war. And the reality is, we newly need to pull together and realize this transcends political parties. Now, from the perspective of the police on the street. You see that dimension, but there is another possible dimension, that chinas interest is not just to make money but really undermine the social fabric, in their competition. Look, my view is a little different. I guess we are looking at a obal perspective here. You know, our members are more focused on how it is affecting our communities. Lets just be honest. There is no way in the world that china does not know the dadone in this country. You are either fixing the problem or you are part of the problem. Their knowledge of the damage that is being done and not taking any action is, in fact their action. Thank you. Urban . The law allows for more sanctions, and it will benefit Law Enforcement targeting Money Laundering networks, too. It tak forfeited property and it puts it back into Law Enforcement investigative operations. Additional funding, there are opportunities that exist right now in terms of taking that data in, networking engage them. It would help authorities and local authorities, in terms of targeting fentanyl. Absolutely. We want to map the network. It takes a network to defeat the network. These are networked organized crime activities. You need communication, transportation, and Financial Transactions for it to work efficiently. It is working efficiently, unfortunately, and you need to attack all components. Mra street officer, you would, i think, concur that they may not knowi; where all of it is coming from, but they need the information . No doubt. Information is key. Thank you all very much. A c my home state of rhode island. Unfortunately, there are 444 rhode islanders, for the smallest state inththat is a lo thank you. Thank you, senator, you are recognized. I want to thank our witnesses for being here today. Every state is a border state right now, when it comes fentanyl, including my home state of wyoming, which one has to pass through both and colorado to get north to wyoming, but we know that fentanyl, the precursor chemicals, and many of the traffickers bringing this poison in via the southern border, so it is the crisis at the border and the failed policies at rs to the deaths of more than 73,000 americans in 2022. Fentanyl deaths in wyoming have gone up significantly in recent years. 11 due to fentanyl overdose. That number has risen to 53, in 2022. My state has the smallest population of any state in the nation. This trend across the country is terrifying. Laramie county, which is cheyenne, that is right along i 80, which is a major corridor, east to west, in the u. S. Last june, police ed more than 9000 fentanyl hills in a single bust. So we know that interstate 80 is a corridor for trafficking of these drugs, once they get into the United States. So this is a very timely hearing. And i preciate you all being here today. And we also know, when there is a surge in migrants at the southern border, that personnel are focused on processing them. And that takes attention away from the trafficking of drugs. So, it has coincided when there is a surge in Illegal Migrants crossing the border, there the of Illegal Drugs, fentanyl first and foremost among them. So, we have got to get our southern border under control. For the sake of americans who are dying, because of policies. That will not receive the attention from the Current Administration that it needs. That said, a couple of questions, mr. Urban and mr. Yoes. How do federal Law Enforcement agencies, whether it is i. C. E. Or cbp, communicate with state it comes to cases in which deceased fentanyl has been traced back to cartels . In a general sense, they cooperate well. In terms of the threat, they need to cooperate better. There needs to be more comedic asian. S to be the advantage of taking advantage of the data that i talked about, that should be immediately downloaded and taken back to determine who else that individual was in contact with in the network. And in a moments notice, the other individuals, that he is connected to, again, within the mexican cart network, with speed. I will just add to that, the working relationship between dea and the Homeland Security task force play a pivotal role in our investigation. And we have a good am a strong working relationship in sharing information. But the demand is outpacing what the bandwidth is. So, mr. Urban, how do we build and use technology . ■ so that we can understand how cartels are operating, and build a map of their activities . So, so, again, compared to when i target undercover Money Laundering activities, with wiretapsw, the opportunity exists to intake that data. We have a large data tanks, fbi, dha, and the individual enforcement, whether it is a car stop or the arrests, we want to pull that data in. One, it maps out the network and like i talkedabt earlier, they are connected through transportation, communication, and amounts of money. Two, with speed, because if you had this platform set up, within feder out target packages, where they would be able to go effect arrests by Law Enforcement. I want to thank you, gentlemen, my time is up, but i want to thank you, mr. Deford, or using your platform as a celebrity to call attention to this issue. We are grateful for your attendance today. Mr. Chairman, i d let me thank and the Ranking Member for your leadership and your legislation. And thank all of you for being here and for your efforts to address this crisis that we are facing. We know that drug cartels■3 manufacture fake pills resembling Prescription Medications that are least w they cunningly concealed fentanyl within other illicit drugs, knowingly poisoning americans, for their own profit. To share one devastating story, from my home state of maryland, a young lady, trinity ripley, lost her life to accidental fentanyl overdose after consuming a counterfeit pill e year. Trinity was only 18 years old, the daughter of christine and von ripley, a councilmember in the town of trinity died the first time bill at any time. People like trinity, without an opioid tolerance Face Even Greater risks of succumbing. Her father has spoken, had spoken to her about the safety issues and the challee with peer pressure. In his advocacy in this issue, mr. Ripley has said, quote, the thing that drives me nuts is that one pill can kill. And now he worries about trinitys younger brother, xander, potentially in 2021, the dea launched the one pill can kill Public Awareness campaign. Cayoic strategies that state and local Law Enforcement agencies are using that are, in your view, the most effective . Whole lot of you are right, one pill can kill. Over and over. Hat over and from a Law Enforcement standpoint, we are putting band aids on problems, because there is so much activity taking place. There are really a couple of facetslittle bit about it, but there is another facet, too. It should not be taking away from the enforcement side of it, but it is programs like tal the suppliers. A lot of this legislation is geared specifically towards those who are manufacturing and those who are bringing it in. The reality is we need to focus on this, on the other side as well. How it is affecting communities, families, and the education portion of it, as well. Thank you and mr. Deford, i have been listening to your testimony for my office and all of the testimony. Thank you for the powerful voice that you bring to this crisis. Your experience, your music, it cuts across party lines and brings people together, rather than dividing them. As all of us know, nobody cares whether someone has overdosed from fentanyl, if they are a democrat, republican, or anything else. Thank you for your unifying voice in this crisis. You mentioned that your city being one of the epicenters of the federal print prices and that is, our state of maryland, like others, has not escaped this scourge. If you can juston your experience, whether there are any misconceptions that others have, about the group of people who end up using or dying from fentanyl, misconceptions that people have that can help us i want the record to reflect that i am an orioles fan. I think the story of trinity is the main story that we can reference right now about the misunderstanding fentanyl is doing. The drug addict is shifting, right . It is not always the drug dicts young lady who took a pill the night before christmas to maybe get to sleep or get the anxiety of christmas off. I do not know tty story, but i know, with my experience, that she did not take that pill to lose her life. Excuse my language. The days of doing cocaine in the bathroom with a stranger are long behind us. My wife and i do not even trust tylenol that has been opened now. That is how scary of a place we live in now, the biggest misconception is that it has not already ended up in your home and you are listening to this thinking, it never well will, you are wrong. It is on its way to your living room. I suggest that we stand up and be more, as fast as we possibly can. Thank you for that important message. Senator james ofntana is recognized. Thank you. We have a bunch of fans in montana who listen to jellyroll a lot, welcome to swamp in d. C. I like to listen to you in my pickup, back in montana, i am very proud of what you are listen to you more than people who wear ties. Thank you. I have had the opportunity to meet with folks across montana, and everywhere else, discussing the fentanyl crisis, it is wreaking havoc in our communities, there are tribal leaders, Border Patrol agents, and others, they are all saying the same thing. Fentanyl is flooding across the southern border, and reaching our communities in record time and killing americans at horrific rate. We do not have numbers yet for 2023 for montana, finalized, but the Montana Drug Task force has been on trseize nearly half a million doses of fentanyl. That is double from last years this is not about urban areas. It is not just about states nt is in northern border state. We border canada. But we have a soutrn border crisis. Cbp numbers in fiscal 2023, they seized enough fentanyl at the southern border to kill the entire population of the United States. These are sobering numbers. And with jelly roll s public advocacy, letting people know that you do not die from an overdose, you die from poisoning by fentanyl. Think of a Little Package of sweet and low, if that were fentanyl, it is enough to kill 500 people. Riley should wraps, one more of the tragic stories, he passed away after taking a pill that was laced with fentanyl, and last year i had the honor of meeting rileys dad, to be my guest. Becoming more and more common, as fentanyl continues to infiltrate every corner of ■] every mmunity in america. I will continue to work with my colleagues to clean this up many ways a manmade crisis. A crisis that starts at the southern border, and with the precursors in china, to stem the flow of fentanyl in this co so that no more families, no more montana families, have to grieve the loss of a loved one to this drug. Mr. Yoes, in your opinion, has the crisis at the southern border made the job ofcers hard terms of illicit drugs and crime . I think anytime you have a system where demand is challeng i think we are there. We clearly are. There is some really strong discussion in the senate about a solution to the border and i am really looking forward to being part of that and learning more about it and being pa of t recognize. There is damage being done. Thank you. Mr. Urban, have mexican drug cartels taken advantage of the crisis at the southern border to elicit and to traffic these illicit drugs in the United States . ■ the mexican cartels are exploiting the border, they are trafficking drugs across the border every day, as we have talked about. In a general sense, we need to turn the border a chokepoint, the transportation of fentanyl. It takes a network to defeat a network. We need to understand how it is getting across and be able to effectively increase interdiction at the border. Do you think the administration is doing enough . To deter the chinese entities that profit off of fentanyl precursors . I thinkthat sanctions offer a real opportunity in terms of offensive strategies against chemical precursors and the chinesemmove from six to nine months to more like four to six weeks and dramatically increased in scale, in terms of the numbers of sanctions you can put out. Jelly roll, in terms of cartels operating in the United States, what role are they playing to get fentanyl distributed . I have had a complete change in life that i used to with the criminals but these days, i side with the law. I believe it is imperative that we do something about it. The story of the cartel, tending drugs into america, it is tale as old as time. To your point, people are not overdosing because theyre doing too much. People are overdosing, because they are doing a little. Thank you. Mr. Chairman . Senator warnock is recognized. Thank you two to all of our witnesses. I would like to say, mr. Deford, jelly roll, i heard your sermon. And i was wondering what you were doing on sunday. You know well, from your experience, that the war on drugbe, ushering in federal and state policies that resulted in an ■mexplosion of drugrelated deathsimpacted this. The United States prison population bloomed from under 250,000 people to more than 1. 4 million. The number of food dr. King, was written we celebrate in a few days, we could not imagine. The consequences of incarceration can be lasting in many states. They have obstacles in finding a job, even voting. The forms of discrimination, they have been reinscribed in the context of the american criminal justice system. My fear is that if we treat addiction like a Law Enforcement problem, we will hobble out entire communities, to fill overcrowded and privatized prison systems while leaving communities no saver. I would like to ask as you have told the story of your past, you were arrested and prison fo related offenses, including violent ones. How is that felony conviction on your record affected you, a successful wrapper and songwriter today. I have carried it any way that you can carry it, senator. There are so many countries that i am not allowed into and i never thought i would matter until i had hit records in canada and now not allowed to go, not allowed to vote, any core right has been restricted from me. I struggled to buy a home. Homeowner insurances were trying to charge me premiums because of my felony. This thing has hit me ways that you could not even describe. The h away would not let me live there. In my state, there is a Violent Offender policy were a crime where i commted when i was 15, i will never get expunged. I carry that still today. It is really a story redemption. I preach about every week. You embody that annually with a cloud over your head unable to vote and struggling to buy a home. Its ha to move forward when your past is always in your back pocket. Thank you for that. Folks that e struggling with addictneedhealthcare and treatment. Not permanent incarceration. Which as you described it,■u1 people are shackled even when they are not incarcerated. Do you believe that access to better care, treatment, and resources early on couldve kept you out of trouble with the law . I believe that drug addiction is a Mental Health problem. Drug dealing is a Law Enforcement problem. Drug addiction is a Mental Health problem. If i had resources in my juvenile years and if we focused on education and less on discipline with our youth, we could get mounds moved. Thank you for your voice on 9 this and the ways in which you are using your music in your platform to help people that are dealing with addiction issues, we need you to help us get it right. I push for the illicit to provide fusubstance use disorder treatment. For the recovery and diversion programs. Working with me to get my provision in the bill before it goes to the floor. I look forward to working with chairman brown to make sure that this important provision is included before this bill passes congre. Voice on such. Im not educated enough to speak on this, i will say, i have a feeling there will be more than enough money to go around. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you to all of the witnesses for taking your time to be here with us today. Talking about such an important issue. I want to echo what some of my colleagues have said. There is a devastating fentanyl worse on the daily. We need to secure it with more personnel. We have to fix the broken asylum process. We have to stop the abuse of parole, bolster interior enforcement and catch release, back in mexico, we owe it to the citizens of our great nation to secure it and help stop the flow [6■ of fentanyl. This is the economic crisis and humanitarian crisis. The cost on humans is heartbreaking and gut wrenching, the influx of fentanyl into United States has left no community untouched. The day after christmas Law Enforcement in the state of alabama seized enough fentanyl from two individuals to kill every Single Person in the largest two cities. You start to think about that and think about the impact of 5z that, just in one seizure. Ard about 79 million doses of ■ fentanyl seized across america in 2022, enough to kill every single american or every single alabama and 75 times over. The results of that is happening. Its clear. Over ses to be exact in 2023. It is the leading cause of death in the 80s between 18 and 45. These numbers represent real they represen■kt pain and tragedy. They represent loss. They all hacorner of your society. Tremendous success. Our we appreciate you being here today and for you sharing your personal story. Your story is one of salvation. A lot of people in life to share the peaks. Thats all they want you to see. Your willingness to show values talk about your relationship with our lord and savior, jesus christ, that will give someone else the courage to climb too. Story. Thank you for your willingness to do it here in such a public way, today. As we every family has a story of success like that. When they sit down for dinner in alabama or wherever they may be across the nation, there will be a chair where someone should be sitting ■d they are not. Because of fentanyl poisoning and because of the effects of this drug. We saw this last year when a twoyearold was found dead in alabama with fentanyl in her system. As i travel out of state in the nation, i hear these stories of heartbreak and tragedy that are gutwrenching. When i was at the border last year, i went to san diego last an officer was talking to us telling us the story of a mom that had two boys. Two. They was laced with fentanyl an as a parent, no one should ever go through that. No parent should have to deal with that heartbreak. Im ready for us to do something now, not tomorrow, today. We owe it to the kids acro i just would like to say and know from your perspective, where are the gaps . We see chnology chaining and what china is doing, getting them to mexico across the border. They are liquefying fentanyl. All of the things, where the mo we are the gaps in our technology . Lets go down the line and then i will be out of time. Give the ability for federal we need those extra tools to map the organizations and hold them accountable. Do you have anything to add . ■ i wantto d to your sentiment that the 109,000 people are people, they are humans, every one of them mother, a father, sons, cousins, people just like in this room. Its important for you to say that. Thank you for them. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Jelly roll, hi. I dont know if any of my colleagues, mr. Chairman, do you have any ink , and i am familiar with your work. Im fan of i am an eric church guy. Ive seen them in concert and everything. Anyway, theres no reason you would know me and know my record. Before i became a senator i was the Lieutenant Governor of pennsylvania and i was in charge of the pardons process here in my state. Part of my platform is Second Chances. I signed off on thousands of pards. I believe in redemption. I have made that very critical. I know you have been clear about redemption as well. He has infused your work. What do you believe . That americans that are living their best life now deserve a y absolutely. I will be honest, i would be lying if i told you it was just a Second Chance and im here for. God bless me with a third and fourth and fifth. I gave god every reason not to give me another chance. He did. When he gave me a megaphone, i made a point to scream as often as possible with his praises and with writing my wrongs. You are one of the few liticis because you just like me. Which i think is awesome. I never give advice on fashion. I think your message about a Second Chance really reaches a lot of people that may not be open to that. My opponent on the other side really weapon eyes my standing for a Second Chance and believing in redemption. I am easy ■on crime. Lawless and those kinds of things. Thats not the truth. I believe that two things can be true at the same time. We must be very smart on crime and have a secure border to talk about the discourage of fentanyl. We must have a path for redemption and to be made whole after this too. You are attributing to that as well too. On the other side of that, we cannot ever make the streets safer without the police. I will just say this, there is a neighborhood in philadelphia, kensington, ground zero of fentanyl. You will see that on fox and i dont agree with that. Ive been around kensington. Its real, its there. We cannot effectively address our National Tragedy if we make that ccsand safe. We cannot do that without your membership in9 philadelphia as well. Fundamentally also, i want to salute the new mayor, mayor parker in philadelphia. She understands that we have to address the situation in kensington. I support that. I believe that we cannot as well. We have to be part of the solution as well and i fully support that. A lot of the politics that ■c■j involved and my believe in a Second Chance has been weapon many meplmbers of the membershi believe that i am lawless and anticop and that is not the truth. Two things can be true at the same time. We need a strong and fully energized police department. We also believe that believing in a Second Chance is compatible . I agree. To some extent, we are modifying behavior to some extent. There is no question. One mistake does not mean that you throw someone away, obviously. The hardline is second, third, fourth, how many people get hurt along the way. This is what all wrap our arms around on how effective some of this is. You are right. You are correct. When we are all working together to recognize the problem in finding solutions to the problem, we do find solutions. When we do not Work Together, it is a mr. Chairman, 30 second more . I believe mayors efforts on that. It is possible with the police and we have to understand we cannot throw away addicts. We need to Work Together on that. That is a base case on addressing our nation. Thank you, ■cmr. Chairman. From california. Is recognized for the hearing and the ranking number, an incredibly important topic. Thank you for being here. Representing the state of california, it was important for me to be here and to be part of raising the voice milli californians who have been managing difficulty of this drug and have brought to families, baand rural americanborn, and have immigrated, to our great cities. I want to appreciate all of you for being here in california. Fentanyl has been the cause of 77 of drug deaths around we have all talked about the statistics and how they show that overdoses involving fentanyl were behind one in five deaths people aged 1524. And i think they are robbing our state and our country, robbing our state and our country of our future. Mr. Jelly roll. I join all my callings in celebrating your leadership, your voice, your willingness to offer your time, your talent, and your treasure to our country. Also, interestingly, joining my callings and listening to your music. And i am grateful for the message of redemption from a california girl born in the state of mississippi. There is Nothing Better than bringing together all of the telling the story of not only just your own journey in life, but your story of redemption and inviting your listeners into the relationship with god. When i listen to the stories of trinity or the twoyearold that has been mentioned by senator briggs from alabama. It is hard for me not to think of my own nineyearold daughter. Americas daughters and sons that are faced with these challenges have been noted in california. What california did is speak to the issue of education and intervention that you mentioned before. Knowing some legislation known as melanies law. An overdose in hollywood involving 15yearold. The law mandates that every Public School in california provide training to School Employees on opioid prevention, lifesaving response under a plan known as the comprehensive School Safety plan. As a parent, i want to ask, about the whole problem. And calling into the space that we are whole people and this is a will problem. I would love to hear you expound a little bit ■more base on your experience as an addict, and as someone willing to share moat what more can we be doing to face the will problem . Thats an incredible question. I will start with a personal story. We have a 15 normal 16yearold daughter. Like every 16yearold, she has experimented with marijuana. Nothing to do with this committee. For the purposes of the story, i am promarijuana. It petrified me because she was smoking cartridge pens. I felt a fear is a father that i have never felt before in that moment. I will also give you this as a tour. All 10 buses are required to have testing strips, narcan and fibula risers. Even the sober bus gets them because i know that sometimes it can be the trinity effect, one guy relapsed into one pill and was not ready for it. The melanie act that is one should be across the country. Education is so important and the kids dont realize. Experimenting with drugs is not safe for children anymore. There was a time when you could experiment with drugs and that time is not now. Sto drive that down. I dont trust my daughters smoking tobacco. Out of the plastic, i dont trust it. Thats sad. Now we are living in fear. Nothing is worse for an american than to live in fear. Thank you so much for that. This leads me to my next ■7■0 u in the interaction with Law Enforcement, i spent 18 years in the labor movement. So often, there is policy conversation held around the members profession without the inclusion of the voice of workers at the center of implementing that policy. I appreciate your representation on behalf of the mb this. My question is very much connected to what was just outlined. At its core, the question is, are we doing enough . To train and ensure the appropriate supplies for Law Enforcement officers to do what they signed up to do. Saving the lives of american children. Our children are dying by accidental ingestion of fentanyl. They are not seeking to take ar pills, perceived to be Something Else. Do the officers have what they need . Is there legislation that you would suggest to ensure. If we are not, and ensuring that we should do more . Do the officers need those overdose kids ate to . To answer your first question, are we doing enough . Th hundred and 10,000 people last year, i would say that we are clearly not even coming close, there is work to be done. Officer that wants to go and deal with any of this. Going to a family to explain that poison that was on the stet we were not able to prevent being there has taken the life of one of their loved ones. There are two parts to it. When we talk considerably about both of them, we focus now largely on the supply. Going to finish. She was way over. The other part of this, we talked extensively about it. We need better education. Itto be. We can take one pa of th it has to be a holistic approach. If we dont have Community Aspects to this, we dont have the empire meant of the community being part of the solution, your supply and demand, we have to address both sides. Thank you. Thank you all for being here. It is important when we talk about this holistic approach, i was the attorney general addressing methamphetamine, opioids, fentanyl, 80 of the drugs that are consumed that come from are consumed because the demand is here in the United States. It is demand along with the supply that we have to address. He is what is important for me. It is key here. Its a relationship and partnership between Law Enforcement and Mental Health and Substance Abuse. The healthcare piece of it is key, just like law ■benforcemen is. I just so appreciate you being here. You said this. This is true for nevada as well. There is nobody who is not touched by this when it comes to fentanyl or Substance Abuse in general. That is why it is important that we continue to fund and support both signs of it. The benefit for everyone , ■ i want you to know, at the end of 2022, congress made one of the biggest investments in Mental Health and Substance Abuse programs. 2 billion in additional money to Substance Abuse programs in the last few yes. That was the longest that weve■ ever seen congress doing. Is it enough . No, is a start . Yes. As were talking about these issues, if you have a challenge of it is your physical care or Substance Abuse, there is a provider you can go to to get help and you have the funds to do and it is accessible. There is no more stigma associated with it. We have to front end and help people. This is what im hearing from all of you as well. This partnership. To address the Drug Trafficking side of it. I was just down at the border down in arizona. There is a challenge with the drugs coming across the border. Including too much fentanyl. This administration has 14 billion that they Want Congress to support to address not just the border. Fficking and other im hoping my colleagues of both sides of the aisle recognize that this is important. Heres my question. I appreciate your comments, i heard very clearly what else we need to do with respect to law n enforcement support, it takes too long. We know from former Law Enforcement, the quicker you can get on it and follow the mo the quicker you can stop trafficking. Im there and i hope my colleagues can hear this as well. Thank you for everything you do. Let me talk about the Rural Communities and tribal communities. What i know nevada, as we address this in some of the major urban areas, Law Enforcement is tackling it and working with partnerships of the federal state and local level. The Rural Communities on the tribal communities are challenged. A lot of these cartels are taking advantage of that with what else should we be doing . I have a piece of legislation to give smaller t communities tools that they need for training, hiring, and working. People do not realize you cannot send an undercover into a small community. They will know who the undercover is. Can you talk about that . The need to address this in the Rural Communities as well . Of this belief that the World Community has less problems. The Rural Community is also a Global Community with a social Media Network and this is where a lot of these drugs are being acquired. If you are in a big city or small town, the same accessibility and it affects people the same. This is what social media platforms have as well. A vehicle to bring this to communities. What do local communities need . They have to recognize that there is no one immune to it. Regardless of the size of the community. They need rev;■sourcetolot of i suggest. It is a mindset. We have to recognize that those resources need to be across the board regardless of the size of the community. Mr. Urban, can you talk about the cartels . They are talking about taking advantage of the geographical areas when it comes to peddling and trafficking in Rural Communities. They have infiltrated every community in the United States. Cities, transportation system, to move money through the Financial Networks here. It will take a Team Approach to go after the network of the mexican cartels, and we have to well. The chairman talked about the support were one of the bills that i have. We know thatzeiler zine is being cut into fentanyl. It is devastating. This is a prophet for these cartels. This is where they are making their money. This is selling at the time they will switch the product for that demand. We have to give Law Enforcement the tools that they need. One of the things that i always get when i address legislation, its not working, why do it . The war on drugs is a failure, why are we doing anything . What is your response to that . The fentanyl deaths that we teenagers were being murdered. We owe them justice. We owe their parents justice. As a federal agent, im frustrated with what is going on in the country right now. Everyone was died from fentanyl overdose were poisoning, the mexican cartels are anyone that has facilitated the train has to be brought to justice. We can all unite around the justice that needs to be imposed on these nefarious actors. Thank you, thanks to the three of you and providing testimony. The senators that wish to submit questions for the today. The three of you witnesses, please 45 days of us sending you the questions. Thank you again, the hearing is adjourned