VIDEO: Ricketts Outlines Solutions to Combat Drug Crisis on the Senate Floor
April 19, 2023
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE) spoke on the Senate floor about the ongoing drug crisis that continues to kill Americans.
“In 2021, 106,000 Americans died of a drug overdose – nearly 70,000 because of fentanyl,” said Senator Ricketts. “Now, let’s think about if a terrorist attacked our country and killed 106,000 Americans. We’d be up in arms! We’d be mobilizing the country, and yet, we do not see that response from the Biden administration.”
In addition to his support for stronger border security measures and adequate resources for law enforcement and Border Patrol agents, Ricketts also announced he had co-sponsored two pieces of legislation to directly address the fentanyl crisis.
“Unbelievably, if you distribute fentanyl and it kills somebody, that’s not a murder charge,” Ricketts added. “However, I’m proud to cosponsor Senator Marco Rubio’s bill, the Felony Murder for Deadly Fentanyl Distribution Act, that would make it a federal felony murder charge to distribute fentanyl and then have somebody die from it. This is a very serious crime that’s going on, and it needs serious consequences. We need to make this a felony murder charge. And let me tell you, the families are asking for this.”
“One of the other things that we periodically do here, is we put fentanyl on the Schedule 1 drug list. But it’s temporary, we need to make that permanent,” Ricketts continued. “We know fentanyl and the analogues are dangerous and need to be Schedule 1 drugs that have no medical purpose… That’s why I’ve co-sponsored Senator Johnson’s Stopping Overdoses of Fentanyl Analogues Act, otherwise known as SOFA.”
Learn more about Rubio’s bill here. Learn more about Johnson’s bill here.
Watch the video HERE.
TRANSCRIPT OF RICKETTS’ FLOOR REMARKS
Thank you very much, Madam President.
I rise today to join my colleagues who are continuing to sound the alarm about the ongoing drug crisis that we have here in our country. I will reiterate what my colleagues said with regard to the leading cause of death of Americans aged 18 to 45 today, which is fentanyl. In 2021,106,000 Americans died of a drug overdose – nearly 70,000 because of fentanyl.
Now, let’s think about if a terrorist attacked our country and killed 106,000 Americans. We’d be up in arms! We’d be mobilizing the country, and yet, we do not see that response from the Biden administration.
Fentanyl is a drug that is coming to us from across the border. The precursors of it are manufactured in China, and shipped to Mexico where the cartels, in illegal labs, create the fentanyl that they ship across the border. And when it comes across the border, it does not stay there. It goes all across our country.
The last two years, I was Governor, the first two years of the Biden administration, we saw an increase of the drugs, the Nebraska State Patrol was confiscating go up dramatically. We saw twice the amount of methamphetamine confiscated, three times the amount of fentanyl, and ten times the amount of cocaine. In 2019, Nebraska law enforcement confiscated 46 pills. In the first six months of 2021, that number had grown to 151,000 pills confiscated. Unbelievable.
It’s killing people in my state as it is across the country. I’ve talked on this floor before about Taryn Lee Griffith, a 24-year-old mom of two. She was out with friends when she took a pill, which she thought was Percocet, but it was laced with a lethal dose of fentanyl. She died that night. Now her two little girls are going to have to learn about their mom through pictures and stories from family.
This is shameful and it must end. It’s impacting people all across this country. As I’ve said before on this floor: if this is not our job, to fix this, I don’t know what is.
So, what more can we do?
Well, first of all, we can address the southern border. I’ve had the opportunity to go to the southern border several times. When I talk to Customs and Border Patrol officials, they tell us they need three things. They need infrastructure. Build a wall. They need more technology, like better drones. And they need more personnel. This Congress needs to provide the Customs and Border Patrol the resources they need to be able to stop the flow of drugs coming into this country.
Another thing we can do. Unbelievably, if you distribute fentanyl and it kills somebody, that’s not a murder charge. However, I’m proud to cosponsor Senator Marco Rubio’s bill, the Felony Murder for Deadly Fentanyl Distribution Act, that would make it a federal felony murder charge to distribute fentanyl and then have somebody die from it. This is a very serious crime that’s going on, and it needs serious consequences. We need to make this a felony murder charge. And let me tell you, the families are asking for this.
One of the other things that we periodically do here, is we put fentanyl on the Schedule 1 drug list. But it’s temporary, we need to make that permanent. We know fentanyl and the analogues are dangerous and need to be Schedule 1 drugs that have no medical purpose. So, let’s do that. That’s why I’ve co-sponsored Senator Johnson’s Stopping Overdoses of Fentanyl Analogues Act, otherwise known as SOFA.
This is a drug crisis. It is killing our young people in this nation. I call on my colleagues to act to take these steps to combat this crisis. Too many Americans are dying because of what is going on. We need to act. And with that, Madam President, I yield back.
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