House Lawmakers Introduce 3 Bills Targeting China’s Role in US Fentanyl

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‘China has profited from the destruction of American lives,’ said Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.).

WASHINGTON—A bipartisan group of House lawmakers has introduced three bills to tackle China’s export of fentanyl precursors that are fueling American overdose deaths, an issue that President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to address after taking office.

The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party established a fentanyl policy working group in June to raise awareness of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) role in the U.S. fentanyl crisis and come up with legislation to confront the threat.

The working group, led by Reps. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) and Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.), unveiled three pieces of legislation at its final meeting on Dec. 17.

“We have to also address China’s central role in subsidizing, producing, and exporting the precursors that have fueled this epidemic,” Newhouse told The Epoch Times at the meeting.

“For far too long, China has profited from the destruction of American lives. The legislation that we are endorsing today is a direct response to this outrage.”

The committee’s investigative report published in April found that China was offering massive tax subsidies and giving grants to companies engaged in the manufacture and export of opioid analogs to the Americas.

One bill, the Joint Task Force to Counter Illicit Synthetic Narcotics Act of 2024, would set up a federal task force to coordinate efforts across agencies to combat the trafficking of synthetic narcotics such as fentanyl.

“This is about streamlining operations and delivering real results,” Newhouse said about the bill.

Another bill, the CCP Fentanyl Sanctions Act, would codify and build on President Joe Biden’s Executive Order 14059 by cutting off Chinese companies from the U.S. banking system, including vessels, ports, and online marketplaces that “knowingly or recklessly” facilitate the sale of illicit synthetic narcotics, according to a Dec. 17 statement announcing the legislations.

The International Protection from PRC Fentanyl and Other Synthetic Opioids Act would impose civil penalties on Chinese ports, vessels, and exporters that fail to properly manifest or follow formal entry channels when shipping fentanyl precursors and related chemicals to the United States.

PRC refers to communist China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.

“This fight transcends politics because it’s about protecting American people,” Newhouse told The Epoch Times.

“This is the state-sponsoring poisoning of American people,” Auchincloss told the publication. “The genesis of this is squarely on the People’s Republic of China.

“This is a big day for the opioid epidemic and the fentanyl scourge in this country because we are making bipartisan progress in Congress. Now, let’s pass these bills into law.”

An estimated 74,702 deaths were linked to synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, in 2023, compared to 76,226 in 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Speaking to The Epoch Times at the meeting, Newhouse said that Trump’s vow to impose an additional 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports over the CCP’s broken promises to stem the flow of fentanyl is an encouraging sign.

“That tells me that this fentanyl crisis, it’s a huge issue to the president-elect as well,” Newhouse said. “So that encourages me that we will have the administration’s support in accomplishing our efforts—that’s why I view that as a positive thing.”

Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), the committee’s chairman, and Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.), a member of the working group, were also present at the meeting.

Steel told NTD, the sister media outlet of The Epoch Times, that the three bills should be “a warning to China.”

“We know every day, 200 Americans are getting killed,” Steel said.

She characterized the three bills as the “first step” and believed that both chambers of the 119th Congress, which starts on Jan. 3, 2025, will take up the issue.

Moolenaar questioned the CCP’s sincerity when it said it would work with the United States to address the issue.

“The Chinese Communist Party is saying that they will cooperate with us to address our drug problem,“ he told NTD. ”They’re subsidizing companies to make these dangerous chemicals that are shipped into our country, so it really attacks the credibility of the CCP when they say they’re going to cooperate.”

Reuters contributed to this report.