Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) has announced the introduction of a resolution to the Senate which looks to establish February 26th through the 4th as “National Fentanyl Awareness Week.”
This comes at a time in which Republican legislators around the nation are calling out the Biden administration for his lax approach to the southern boundary.
Republicans believe that the lax approach has led to the influx of incredibly fatal drugs like fentanyl into the country.
“Every day that passes with a wide-open southern border, deadly drugs like fentanyl are pouring into our country and killing our fellow Americans. It is plaguing communities in Florida and all across our nation and it must be stopped. We have lost too many—mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, and friends,” stated Sen. Scott.
He would go on to mention that he urges “all my colleagues to stand with victims of fentanyl, their families and everyone fighting this battle to join me and support this important resolution."
Sen. Scott has been incredibly vocal on the fentanyl issue, perhaps the most vocal in all of the federal government.
In December, Scott’s Eradicating Narcotic Drugs and Formulating Effective New Tools to Address National Yearly Losses of Life (END FENTANYL) Act unanimously passed in the Senate but was held at the desk in the then-Democrat controlled House of Representatives.
The bill calls for the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to improve and reform its approach every three years to “ensure drug interdiction guidance is up to date.”
According to a 2019 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, the last time the interdiction guidance was updated was 2 decades ago.
The bill also requires a report from the Commissioner of CBP to send a report to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Homeland Security Committee in the House of Representatives.
Perhaps the resolution will fix the eyes of legislators back towards the fentanyl issue.