During a recent House Oversight Committee hearing on border security, Florida's Rep. Jared Moksowitz (D-23) calls out House Republicans for the politicized nature of the issue rather than the problem of fentanyl itself, which is primarily smuggled through ports of entry.
Rep. Moskowitz begins saying that his predecessor Rep. Ted Deutch's nephew tragically died from a fentanyl overdose, quoting Deutch's editorial. "
We cannot wait until it's all personalized to us," Moskowitz quotes, "it's time to pass the many bipartisan bills introduced this Congress that will protect the health and wellbeing of the American people... It's time to rise above the polarization, the cheap shots, the partisan fights to powerfully face the harsh realities of fentanyl."
As such, Moskowitz calls out House Republicans, saying "all we're doing is politicizing another issue in this country that doesn't need to be politicized."
Moskowitz then asks Chief Agent John Modlin if any fentanyl comes into the country legally, barring medical imports. Modlin answers that none of it arrives legally, and it is seized all the same if it comes over the border or through a port of entry. Moskowitz thanks him for his answer, because "it's not important where it comes from, because it's about the fentanyl."
He then questions why Republicans are more concerned about the 10% of fentanyl smuggled in through the border as opposed to the 90% at ports of entry. "Shouldn't we be talking about all of it? Shouldn't they be as concerned as they are if it's coming over the Rio Grande, as if it comes across the port?"
Moskowitz then throws in another shot, saying many Republicans voted against funding for Customs and Border Patrol.
"They say they're strong about the border, but when it comes to funding it, they don't want to do it," he says.
Additionally, Moskowitz asks because larger numbers of migrants being apprehended is painted as a bad thing by Republicans, does the larger number of narcotics seized at the border in 2019 versus 2022 mean more were coming in in 2019 as opposed to now? "They're focused on the realm of the possible rather than the facts."
