Fentanyl Policy Working Group Three Bipartisan Bills

Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party joined Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) and Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), co-leads of the Committee’s Fentanyl Policy Working Group, to introduce bipartisan legislation that helps hold China responsible for the fentanyl crisis.

Spearheaded by Reps. Newhouse and Auchincloss, the working group spent months building on the Select Committee’s bipartisan investigation which uncovered for the first time how the CCP directly subsidizes fentanyl precursors and analogues, while also showing how the CCP has failed to aggressively pursue exporters of deadly substances or meaningfully police PRC-based e-commerce platforms for these sales. The lawmakers are now introducing three bipartisan bills aimed at better coordinating law enforcement efforts, strengthening sanctions on China-based and CCP-backed entities engaged in drug trafficking, and leveraging fines against PRC shippers that fail to implement appropriate transparency and related safeguards that hinder drug trafficking.

Members of the Fentanyl Policy Working Group are Rep. Newhouse, Rep. Auchincloss, Rep. Neal Dunn (R-FL), Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD), Ritchie Torres (D-NY), and Michelle Steel (R-CA).

The bills developed by the working group are the Joint Task Force to Counter Illicit Synthetic Narcotics Act of 2024, The CCP Fentanyl Sanctions Act, and the International Protecting from PRC Fentanyl and Other Synthetic Opioids Act.

Summaries of the bill can be found below.

The Joint Task Force to Counter Illicit Synthetic Narcotics Act of 2024

• The Joint Task Force to Counter Illicit Synthetic Narcotics Act of 2024 would establish a coordinated task force to combat the trafficking of synthetic narcotics like fentanyl. The task force will bring together representatives from relevant federal agencies to conduct joint operations, disrupt trafficking networks, and enforce sanctions. It will focus on international and domestic coordination, including addressing the role of the People’s Republic of China in the opioid crisis.
• The task force aims to streamline interagency collaboration, enhance legal enforcement, and report regularly to Congress.

The CCP Fentanyl Sanctions Act

• The CCP Fentanyl Sanctions Act targets what the Select Committee’s bipartisan fentanyl report described as the “Achilles’ heel” of fentanyl and related synthetic narcotics producers—their exposure to the U.S. banking system courtesy of their licit activity. This legislation would codify important new authorities to address this threat while working to target those responsible for the epidemic.
• It codifies and builds on Executive Order 14059, which established critical new sanctions authorities against actors involved fentanyl trafficking. It also expands existing sanctions authorities to target PRC vessels or ports that knowingly or recklessly facilitate shipment/transportation of illicit synthetic narcotics, as well as PRC online marketplaces and other entities that knowingly or recklessly facilitate sale of illicit synthetic narcotics.
• The legislation also provides authority to restrict foreign financial institution correspondent accounts and payable-through accounts if the President determines the account has knowingly facilitated transactions on behalf of individuals engaging in synthetic narcotics trafficking.

International Protection from PRC Fentanyl and Other Synthetic Opioids Act

• The International Protection from PRC Fentanyl and Other Synthetic Opioids Act aims to combat fentanyl trafficking by imposing civil penalties on PRC shippers that fail to implement appropriate transparency and related safeguards that hinder drug trafficking. It introduces compliance requirements for PRC ports, vessels, and exporters, to properly manifest fentanyl precursors and related chemicals, as well as to follow formal entry when shipping to the United States.
• PRC shippers that fail to follow these requirements would be subject to escalating civil penalties adjusted to the value of goods present on a given vessel. Any such penalties would go towards funding anti-trafficking and related efforts. 

View the Joint Task Force to Counter Illicit Synthetic Narcotics Act of 2024 HERE

View the CCP Fentanyl Sanctions Act HERE

View the International Protection from PRC Fentanyl and Other Synthetic Opioids Act HERE