Business meeting to consider pending calendar business.

Good morning. On today's agenda, three bills, seven nominations. We'll be voting on five of those seven nominations. Colin McDonald, Assistant Attorney General, National Fraud Division; James Bishop, U.S. Attorney, Mid District, North Carolina; Brian Barber, Marshal, West District of Louisiana; Stephen Lewis, Marshal, East District, Missouri; Priscilla Perez Lopez, Marshal, Southern District, Florida. We'll also be voting on two bills, the Combating Illicit Xylazine Act and H.R. 2159, Count the Crimes to Cut Act. The third bill and the remaining nominations must be held over for future consideration. Today we're considering Colin McDonald, nominee to lead the Justice Department National Fraud Enforcement Division. Republicans and Democrats can agree that rooting out fraud to protect the American taxpayers is a critical goal. Mr. McDonald is a career public servant and an expert in fraud protection. He is highly regarded because he's prosecuted hard cases and has prosecuted them well. Mr. McDonald is the right person for this job, and I encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting his nomination. The thrust of today's meeting will be to continue our committee's long-standing and bipartisan work, and emphasis upon the word bipartisan, to protect Americans from the scourge of illegal drugs. The Combating Illicit Xylazine Act, which I lead as Senator Cortez Masto being the lead sponsor, Democrat from Nevada, it responds to the startling increase that we've seen in overdoses and deaths involving xylazine. It comes to mind that this is a Democrat-led bill for Mr. Thomas, I think it was Mr. Thompson in the back end of the Wright County Courthouse that yelled out to me one time, "How come you guys can't get along?" In other words, he was questioning about why we don't have enough bipartisanship. So I would like to say to Mr. Thompson, I think that was his name, that this is a Democrat-led bill and I and 13 other Democrats and 14 other Republicans are trying to get it passed. So don't ever think that things don't get done in a bipartisan way. There might be too much partisanship, but not as much as a lot of people think. This bill will classify this highly toxic drug, xylazine, as a Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act, while at the same time protecting legitimate use by veterinarians, farmers, and ranchers. This bill has been a top priority of both Democrat and Republican administrations. Mr. Thompson, did you get that? The Biden-Harris administration asked Congress to, quote, "make xylazine a Schedule III drug," end of quote, in its, in what is called the, this quote was in what's called the Counter-Fentanyl Legislative Proposal. And on her first day in office, Attorney General Bondi doubled down on that same request. These two administrations didn't agree on most things, but they agreed on the importance of what we're doing here in this committee today. That's why this bill, again to repeat for Mr. Thompson, 14 Democrats and 15 Republicans are supporting it. I want to thank Senator Cortez Masto for her leadership and partnership on this critical issue. For those who don't know, xylazine is an animal tranquilizer legally used in large animals and livestock on a regular basis. It's not approved for human use. In humans, xylazine causes vital functions like breathing to plummet and to do it to potentially fatal levels. Over the past decade, it's increasingly appeared on the streets mixed with fentanyl and other narcotics, and you know it by its street name, tranq. Xylazine has caused an increasing number of fatal drug poisonings involving fentanyl because it compounds sedative effects when mixed with opioids. The overdose reversal medicine, Narcan, doesn't work on xylazine. This drug is dangerous because it's a cheap way to cut other deadly drugs like fentanyl and heroin. Dealers use it to maximize drug profits and doing it at the expense of human lives. The data tells a harrowing story. The maps that I hope you put up here, the maps I'm about to show you are from the Center of Disease Control and illustrate how this drug has ravaged our country. In 2020, most states didn't collect data relative to xylazine, but even with limited data, if you look at 2020, oh you have it, if you look at 2020 map, you'll see 571 deaths in Pennsylvania, 431 in Maryland, all connected to xylazine. Now if you look at 2024 map, you see a startling increase in deaths where xylazine was detected. Thirteen states with 150 or more deaths, 230 people from Illinois, 235 from Missouri, 269 from Tennessee, 874 from Pennsylvania, 343 from Maryland, 218 in New Jersey, 345 in Connecticut, 727 in New York. This data tells a story, and it's what we're here today about. Former DEA Administrator Milgram during the Biden administration explained, quote, "DEA has seized xylazine-fentanyl mixtures in 48 of 50 states. We know where this xylazine comes from. It comes from a powder, as powder from China and as liquid diverted from veterinary supply chains. Despite all this, xylazine is not yet a controlled substance. This is why it is so important for it to be scheduled," end of Mr. Milgram's quote. DEA has tried to administratively schedule this drug since the Biden-Harris administration, but they ran into problems that requires Congress now to act. Under the current law, DEA can't create a special carve-out for lawful users of xylazine like vets and farmers. Quite simply, the DEA can't schedule this on their own without harming the agriculture community. So we're here today to do what DEA can't do by regulation. Few people know the pain this drug can cause more than the families who've lost loved ones to poison like xylazine-fentanyl. Some are here today as I think you can see. Many others are watching across the nation. I see some of you have photographs of your loved ones. I want to thank every one of you for coming today. Some of you traveled 10 hours, I've been told, and I'd like to have those of you that have lost a loved one to these drugs, if you'd please stand for two seconds. Thank you very much for coming and have our love for your loss. Thank you. Now instead of plunging into despair and grief, you stood up to the fight and to do that to save other families from the horror you experienced. Mrs. Shannon Miller, Ohio, lost her daughter two years ago. Her grandson found his mother cold. Tomorrow would be Shannon's daughter's 37th birthday, but because of xylazine, she's now forever 35. Mrs. Deborah Dino-Zenos is here today from Garfield, New Jersey. She lost her son Ricky to xylazine overdose as well. She wrote to the committee, quote, "My son Ricky should be here today. Instead, our family lives with the reality that a hidden substance in the drug supply took his life before he ever had a chance to know it was there. I respectfully urge the committee to act quickly on S. 545 so that fewer families have to endure the same heartbreak," end of quote. Mrs. Denise Prince traveled here today to honor her son Joey. When she lost Joey three years ago, his toxicology report listed fentanyl and xylazine as the cause of death. She told us, quote, "Even if I had found my son sooner, I most likely would not have been able to save him due to the effects of xylazine, which cannot be reversed by Narcan," end of quote. Mrs. Debbie Malat also came here today from New Jersey. She lost her son Jesse when he took a pill he didn't know had fentanyl and xylazine in it. Mrs. Kimberly Schirer lost her son Jordan after he fought addiction his entire life. She recalls in her letter that even if she had had Narcan, it couldn't have saved Jordan from xylazine. The story show us, these and a lot of other stories, that this legislation isn't an abstract policy debate. We're talking about taking action to keep parents from losing children and children from losing parents. I can't tell you every story this morning, but I want to let everyone who shared their painful story to us know we hear you. You are why we're here today. Before Senator Durbin, I'd like to enter into the record letters and documents supporting the bill. Department of Health and Human Services urging this committee to pass legislation, quote unquote, "as written." A letter from the DEA saying the same thing. A copy of the Biden-Harris counter-fentanyl legislative proposal calling on Congress to, quote, "make xylazine a Schedule III drug," end of quote. A memo from Attorney General Bondi, first days in office, calling on Congress to add xylazine to Schedule III. An article from Bloomberg Government describing efforts of the Office of National Drug Control Policy to advance this legislation. And then letters from more than a dozen law enforcement organizations urging passage of the bill. Multiple letters from individuals who lost loved ones from xylazine and fentanyl and from a coalition of more than 200 family advocacy groups. And finally, a letter from the American Veterinary Medical Association supporting this legislation. So without objection, these will be entered in the record. Senator Durbin.