WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary
Committee, discussed the havoc deadly fentanyl analogs are causing on families
and communities across the United States, including in Iowa. In floor remarks
today, Grassley pushed his colleagues to fast-track a bipartisan extension of a
tool allowing rapidly-changing fentanyl analogs to be listed as Schedule I controlled
substances. Unfortunately, a Democrat objected to the extension on behalf of
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.).
During Grassley’s remarks, he discussed the tragic loss of Sebastian
Kidd, a 17-year-old from Des Moines, who died after taking what he thought was half
of a pain pill that was actually laced with a form of fentanyl. The Kidd family
is not alone. A
group
of parents who’ve lost children to fentanyl poisoning are pleading with
senators who’ve stood in the way to drop their objections to legislation to
crack down on ever-changing fentanyl analogs.
“Home should be the safest place in the world for a child. It used to be
that parents could breathe a little easier once they locked the front door,
knowing that their child was safe on the inside. Not anymore. Drug dealers have
found ways into our homes through social media. Now, more and more children are
dying alone, at night, in what should be the safest place for them—their own
bedrooms,” Grassley said in floor
remarks.
“We can’t keep ignoring
law
enforcement’s request to schedule fentanyl analogs. Law enforcement are the
folks responding to fentanyl poisonings. Police are putting their lives on the
line facing off with the cartels. They’re asking us to continue classifying
fentanyl analogs as a Schedule I substances,”
Grassley continued.
Prepared Floor Remarks by U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa
Fentanyl Needs to Be a Schedule I Substance
Wednesday, September 28, 2022
Home should be the safest place in the world for a child. It used to be
that parents could breathe a little easier once they locked the front door,
knowing that their child was safe on the inside. Not anymore. Drug dealers have
found ways into our homes through social media. Now, more and more children are
dying alone, at night, in what should be the safest place for them—their own
bedrooms.
That’s where Deric and Kathy Kidd found their son Sebastian unresponsive
on the morning of July 30, 2021. He was slumped on his bed, still in his street
clothes.
Sebastian was a high school senior in Des Moines, Iowa. He took half of
what he thought was a pain pill. It was actually fentanyl. Sebastian’s parents
should have had the rest of their lives with him. Instead, they buried their
seventeen-year-old son.
Congress has responded in the worst possible way to parents like the
Kidds—we’ve responded with inaction.
I’m disappointed that my Democratic colleagues have tried to block
fentanyl
related substance (FRS) scheduling. Under this Democrat-led Congress,
reauthorization periods of scheduling of fentanyl knockoffs keep getting
shorter. And bipartisan talks about permanent scheduling have all but stopped.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a rank-and-file Democrat or Republican.
Fentanyl is a problem for all of us. It’s time we started treating it like one.
We can’t keep ignoring
law
enforcement’s request to schedule fentanyl analogs. Law enforcement are the
folks responding to fentanyl poisonings. Police are putting their lives on the
line facing off with the cartels. They’re asking us to continue classifying
fentanyl analogs as a Schedule I substances. Who are we to deny them that?
We all agreed that this scheduling was necessary in 2020, when we
unanimously extended it by 15 months.
But here we are, on the brink of the expiration of this scheduling
authority. Families and law enforcement alike are panicked that we will let
this authority disappear.
Temporary scheduling of fentanyl-related substances cannot lapse while
we hash out more permanent solutions. We’ve all voted this provision into law
before.
We’ve
been warned that more parents will have to
bury their children
if we do not pass it again.
I ask that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar
number 45, S.1216, further that the Grassley amendment at the desk be
considered and agreed to, the bill as amended be considered a third time and
passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table
with no intervening action.
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