Three Pieces of Legislation

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Subcommittee will come to order. The chair recognizes himself for an opening statement. Today's mark-up will focus on a few bills that work to combat the illicit drug crisis facing our communities, specifically targeting the growing threat posed by pill presses. These bills work together to create a regulatory framework that allows DEA to conduct oversight of a closed system of distribution for pill presses and their critical parts just like we have for controlled substances. This system ensures good actors are able to utilize pill presses for legitimate intended uses, while giving DEA the tools to monitor suspicious orders and prevent bad actors from diverting pill presses for the illicit production of counterfeit pills. H R five eight eight O, the FIGHT Illicit Pill Presses Act is led by Representative Ha- Hagerman from Wyoming, and would establish requirements for serial numbers, record-keeping, and transaction reporting for pill presses and their critical parts. The Preventing Rogue Equipment for Synthetic Substances Act, Press Act, H R seven one eight four is led by Representative McDowell from North Carolina. It would criminalize the import importation of pill press equipment with the intent to illicitly produce a controlled substance. H R eight zero zero five, the Stop Pills that Kill Act is led by Representative Evans from Colorado. This legislation would apply enhanced criminal penalties to those who engage in the illicit manufacture of fentanyl. fentanyl analogs, or fentanyl related substances. It would also direct the DEA to establish, implement and implement a comprehensive plan to address the threat of counterfeit pills that contain fentanyl, methamphetamine, or any other illicit syn- synthetic substance. I look forward to continuing the work on these policies and bringing them to the full committee. I now recognize the ranking member, Ms. DeGette, for her five minute opening statement.

Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. Uh, you know, we all want to curb the spread of dangerous illicit drugs, but I'm concerned that these bills fall short of meaningfully improving law enforcement efforts, and could further our nation's addiction to criminalization. At best, I think these bills need work. At um, ps- I think we need to better consider practical concerns, and at the worst, I think these bills just make illegal conduct more illegal. I'm not sure the bills will help. So I want to um talk briefly about something that I think would work, and that's bipartisan common sense legislation that Congresswoman Miller-Meeks and I introduced yesterday. The Cure Hepatitis C Act paves the way for our country to eliminate hepatitis C as a major health threat. It's a gem of an opportunity to lower costs and save lives. Highly effective antiviral treatments for this debilitating disease have been around since twenty thirteen, and they cure more than ninety-five percent of cases without significant side effects but even so over four million people in the US now have hepatitis C. Left untreated, this disease leads to a lifetime of chronic health issues and even death. Development of a cure was one of the most remarkable medical achievements of our lifetime but still more than a decade after initial approval, tens of thousands of Americans die of hepatitis C every year. That's because people with the disease don't always feel sick and know they're infected, which complicates diagnosis. And because the affected population is so disproportionately underserved already, um sometimes they're in prison, for example, they're not consistently engaged with the health care system. The cost of antiviral therapies is also cost prohibitive for many and a standard regimen can cost tens of thousands of dollars if you don't have insurance. This bill would close these access gaps and put life-saving therapeutics in the hands of those who need it, by taking a pilot program that was pioneered by Louisiana nationwide, allowing states to partner with manufacturers to tailor treatment to different priority populations. And so, in short, when we passed this bill, it will save thousands of lives. It'll also save money in the health care system by reducing spending on chronic disease management, which it can include expensive treatments for cirrhosis, liver cancer, and liver transplantation. A preliminary CBO estimate of this policy found, for example, it would save six point six billion dollars. I'm so happy to have worked on this bill with my colleague and our committee member from Iowa, and also representatives Hank Johnson and Don Bacon, as well as our center counterp- Senate counterparts, Senators Cassidy and Van Hollen. Each of us is committed to passing this groundbreaking bill by the end of the year for a variety of reasons, but mostly because we need to start saving lives right now. Mister Chairman, I'm sorry to hijack this opening statement, but we're gonna need the full force of this subcommittee to pass this bill, and I think really the solution is

Generally yields back and and I look forward to reading the bill that was introduced yesterday and now recognize the gentleman from Kentucky, the Chairman of the full committee, Mister Guthrie, for five minutes for an opening statement.

Good morning everyone and thank you, Chairman, for the recognition and holding this important mark up. Today we're continuing the committee's work. to combat the threat of existing and emerging drug threats by advancing legislation that will help to keep illicit drugs out of our communities. In twenty twenty five, DEA sees more than forty seven million counterfeit pills containing fentanyl. Just two milligrams of fentanyl is considered a potentially lethal dose. That's small enough to fit on the tip of a pencil. Now bad actors are using punches and dies that imitate the markings of legitimate prescriptions like Oxycodone, Xanax, and Adderall. to manufacture counterfeit pills in illicit tabs. Over ninety-eight percent of the pills seized and tested by the DEA had fake pharmaceutical imprints. These con- these counterfeits are widely available due to criminal drug networks and are being falsely marketed as legitimate prescription pills to deceive the American public. The pills before us today take important steps to safeguard public health by equipping all law enforcement officials with the necessary resources to protect Americans from the threat posed by deadly counterfeit pills. I appreciate the work that has gone into these bills already, and I look forward to continuing the process. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I yield back.

Thank you, and I uh the gentleman yields back, and now I recognize the ranking member of the full committee, the gentleman from New Jersey, Mister Pallone, for his five minutes for an opening statement.

Thank you, Chairman Griffith. Today we're marking up three bills to address the supply chains that turn illicit chemicals into counterfeit pills. They target the equipment, the importation, and the production behind the fentanyl crisis. H R five eight eight O, the fight illicit pill presses act, requires people to identify tableting and encapsulating machines by serial number, so that when the law enforcement sees it as a press, they can trace it. The bill mirrors the Biden administration's detect and defeat counter fentanyl proposal, which called on Congress to establish a nationwide pill press and tableting machine registry so officials could track these machines and their illicit use. And while I support the intent of this bill, I do have some concerns that it will tag unwitting unwitting individuals with criminal liability. It may be people who are not intending or are not aware that a pill press will be used for an illicit use. Then there's H R two one eight four. The press act would make it unlawful to manufacture, distribute or import pill press equipment with the intent to illicitly produce a controlled substance. And then H R eight O O five the stop pills that kill act implements sentencing penalties for producing fentanyl fentanyl analogs or counterfeit pills, and it requires the DEA to create a comprehensive plan to address counterfeit substances. Now we shared jurisdiction over these bills with our colleagues on the house judiciary committee and I hope we can work together to ensure that we fully understand the real implications of the criminal penalty component to all these bills after all we've made real progress over the last several years in strong bipartisan fashion to combat But an enforcement-only strategy is not the answer, particularly at a time when the administration's actions are jeopardizing all the progress we've made. This package of bills prioritizes more criminal penalties penalties and more enforcement. But we already ran that experiment starting back in the nineteen eighties, and decades of escalating drug penalties did not empty the pill mills. Instead, it fi- it filled our prisons while the supply chain adapted and the deaths kept climbing. We know what does save lives. This committee's own record shows that expanded access to medications for opioid use, disorder, fentanyl, test strips, and naloxone helped reduce overdose deaths by nearly twenty-eight percent from two thousand twenty-three to twenty-four. That's the largest drop we've seen, and it came from treatment and harm reduction, not from a new felony. At the hearing that produced these bills, members agreed on a bipartisan basis that addiction should be treated as a disease. And that's why the Trump administration's actions to slash substance and recovery funding could stunt the progress we've made. The Trump administration has dismantled the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, SAMSA, and that's the agency responsible for addressing the overdose crisis. SAMSA's staff have been reduced by half and the administration cut one point seven billion in block grants for state health departments that cut three hundred fifty million in addiction and overdose prevention funding. These cuts are drastic and devastating, and if we want to truly protect our

Gentleman yields back, I would remind members that pursuant to committee rules, all members opening statements will be made a part of the record. Are there any further opening statements? Seeing none, I now recognize uh what, uh next page, I now call up HR seven one eight four and ask the clerk to report.

H R seventy one, eighty four, a bill to amend the controlled substances act to prevent the importation of illicit pill press machines with the intent to counterfeit substances and further purposes.

Without objection, the first reading of the bill is dispensed with and the bill will be open for amendments at any point. So, ordered. Seeing no objection. And uh, I now recognize myself um for five minutes on H R seven one eight for the Press Act. And I offer my support for this bill with the recognition there is still work to be done on this policy and that we are engaged in bipartisan efforts to get this policy to a good place. The influx of illicit drugs into the US has in part been driven by bad actors, and I would say in big part, exploiting loopholes within our legal system. Currently, one of those loopholes is the unfettered importation of pill presses and their critical parts, which are in turn being utilized for mass production of counterfeit substances. So as many as have have heard in various testimonies, they will make a pill that they then try to sell as Pill-X, which doesn't have much of a harm to it, but it's laced with fentanyl or some other dangerous substance. And then we have young people who are dying, thinking that they're just getting a little boost for studies or or something else. So this act would give our federal prosecutors the tools they need to hold the nefarious foreign actors accountable for importing pill presses. and build equipment into the United States with the intent to illicitly produce controlled substances I strongly urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back. And I now recognize the gentlelady from Colorado, Ms. DeGette, the ranking member for her five minutes on the bill.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, I'm really pleased to hear you say that you think this bill needs more work because it does and we look forward to uh working with you as it moves forward. The Press Act would expand DEA's jurisdiction over pill presses beyond our borders, and it would make it illegal for an individual to manufacture or distribute pill press equipment if they know it will be used to manufacture illicit substances, to be imported into the US. It also increases criminal penalties for listed chemicals, which are components of illicit substances or their production, and it directs the US Sentencing Commission to update sentencing guidelines, more likely than not to increase penalties. And so it's like I said in my opening statement, it makes already illegal conduct more illegal. And I worry that such increasingly punitive sentencing will not deter criminals, but it will only further overburden our judicial system. I do support making sure we can prosecute bad actors who are importing dangerous drugs into the United States. that's that's energy and commerce's part of this referral but when the penalties are already so high I just don't think we should increase penalties for the sake of doing it and so I look forward to working with you and your staff on this and I yield back

Jen lady yields back anyone else wishing to speak on the bill seeing none all those in favor hang on two All okay, the question now occurs on forwarding HR seven one eight four as amended to the, not amended, but to the full committee. All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, no.

No.

The ayes have it, and the bill is agreed to and forwarded to the full committee. All right, now call up HR eight zero zero five. If the clerk would report H uh HR eight zero zero five.

HRA zero zero five, a bill to amend the Controlled Substances Act to prohibit certain acts related to fentanyl analogs of fentanyl and counterfeit substances and for other purposes, be enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled.

And without object without objection, the first reading of bill is dispensed with and the bill will be open for amendment at any point. Seeing no objections, so ordered. Um, and I believe that there is an amendment in the nature of a substitute at the clerk's desk. Could the clerk please report that?

Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H R eight zero zero five, offered by Mister Griffith of Virginia. Strike one.

And without objection, uh, we will dispense with the reading of the amendment in the nature of a substitute. Any objection? Seeing none, uh, I offer my support and I now recognize myself for five minutes, and I offer my support to the amendment in the nature of a substitute to H R eight zero zero five, the pill stop pills, the kill act, um the aims, in the nature of substitute, amends the underlying bill to clarify the scope of the legislation pertains to counterfeit pills containing fentanyl, methamphetamine, or an illicit synthetic substance. This legislation would require the DEA to create an implemented comprehensive plan to investigate and prevent the movement of such counterfeit pills. It allows prosecutors to apply enhance penalties to those who are involved in the manufacturing of fentanyl, fentanyl analogs, and fentanyl-related substances. It would also require the Attorney General to conduct a report to Congress examining the collection and prosecutions of counterfeit pills that contain fentanyl methenphetamine or an illicit synthetic substance. This bill would give us more tools and information to prevent deadly counterfeit pills from reaching the hands of Americans and I strongly encourage my colleagues to support this aims and uh the bill. And I will tell you all that I understand that if we catch somebody doing these bad things and they've got the the pills on them it's already illegal. But I kind of equate these bills to the uh problem they had in Virginia in the nineteenth century where people were uh going into cemeteries and grave robbing. They couldn't always catch them with their hand in the grave so they made it illegal to enter the cemetery after dark. Yes, if they're grave robbing, you've already got a crime. But by stopping it before they get to the grave, by saying it's illegal to be in the graveyard, they solved the problem. I think this will help solve the drug problem in the United States. Won't be a perfect cure, but I think it is one of the things that we need to do. And with that, I yield back and recognize the gentlelady of Colorado, the ranking member, Ms. Degut for her five minutes.

Thanks, Mister Chairman, I I'm it's gonna take me some time to think through your grave grave robbing analysis. I'm Not really sure it applies here, but let me talk about this bill because you're exactly right. If we catch them with fentanyl or f- or fentanyl-like substances, it's already illegal. So what this bill does, it enhances an existing criminal penalty for possession of equipment used to produce fentanyl, which are an analog of fentanyl or a counterfeit substance. It also requires the DEA to establish a rep- response plan to address counterfeit fentanyl and report to to Congress on seizures and convictions under the bill. This is all where at the same time DEA is struggling to um enforce current laws. Now they're gonna do a response plan with all of this. Look, the bill targets a real problem of the spread of counterfeit fentanyl or misrepresentation of fentanyl as another substance, but the bill misses the mark in meaningfully addressing the issue. That's because it defines counterfeit fentanyl as a substance that contains fentanyl, so the substance in question is already illegal. And prosecutors already apply penalty enhancements for knowing misrepresentation of a drug. This bill simply duplicates existing criminal penalties. I I guess silly season is approaching, and that's why I oppose this bill and I yield back.

Generally, it goes back, is there further discussion on the amendment in the nature of a substitute? If there's no further discussion, the vote occurs on the amendment, all those in favor of the amendment in the nature of su- of the substitute shall signify by saying aye. All those opposed nay. The ayes have it, and the amendment is agreed to. Um, and now we get to um the bill.

The bill.

And the question now occurs on forwarding HR eight zero zero five as amended

No.

The ayes have it and the bills agreed to and forwarded to the full committee. All right. And now H R five eight eight zero. I call up H R five eight eight zero and ask the clerk to report.

H R fifty eight eighty. A bill to amend the controlled substances act to require regulated persons to identify tablating machines. in encapsulating machines by serial number, be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America and the Congress.

And without objection, the first reading of the bill is dispensed with, and the bill will be open for amendment at any point. Seeing no objections, so ordered. And I will uh recognize myself for five minutes on the HR five eight eight O f fight illicit pill presses act. I support this bill and urge all of my colleagues do the same, with the understanding that our work is our that our work to fine-tune this policy will continue after today's mark-up and before it gets to the full committee. One of the challenges we have had with stopping the influx of illicit drugs into our community stems from our lack of ability to regulate, monitor, and track the transactions involving pill presses and their critical parts. Consequently, this limits our ability to quickly identify cases of pill presses and their critical parts as being diverted and misused for the production of illicit drugs. H R five eight eight zero, the fight illicit pill presses act would address this gap by mandating the serialization of pill presses in their critical parts in addition to updating the requirements to work with DEA to report and retain records of these regulated transactions and I urge my colleagues to support this bill and I yield back I now recognize ranking member the gentle lady from Colorado for her five minutes to discuss the bill.

Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Once again, I'm delighted to hear you say that we need to work to fine tune this bill because this bill again is a really rushed through effort um a a really a solution in search of a problem this bill requires each component of a pill press to have a serial number to help law enforcement track and prosecute their uses to produce illicit drugs i have several practical concerns with concerns with serialization and with the accompanying criminal penalties in particular Well, here's some food for thought. We don't even require such stringent reporting requirements and serialization for firearms. For firearms.

Mm.

So everyday Americans who own pill presses for non-nefarious reasons, like making supplements or even making candy, would have to comply with this law. If those individuals who are making candy at home with the presses sold a pill press without proper serialization they would risk going to federal prison. Old, under this bill, old equipment is not grandfathered in and there's no way to practically serialize existing equipment. Now, I I guess the response to this is prosecutors would not go after ordinary Americans. But I have to tell you, I'm a former public defender and I really don't think we need to give the DOJ power to just go after people who are making candy in their basement and so i think as you do mister chairman that this bill needs additional work i can't understand why we're rushing through all of these bills that all need additional work and have very minimum uh uh impacts on deterring crime and fentanyl but be that as it may um i'm gonna oppose this bill too and i yield back

generally yields back anyone else wish to be recognized to discuss The bill. All right, the question's being done. Then the question now occurs on forwarding HR five eight eight zero to the full committee. All those in favor say aye. Opposed, no.

No.

Two to one. The ayes have it and the bills agreed to and forwarded to the full committee. All right. And without objection, staff is authorized to make technical and conforming changes to the legislation approved by the committee today. Without objection, so ordered. And the committee stands adjourned for a minute or two.

We have to do next part, yes. and then you can do it again after that and then you can do it again after that and then you can do again after that