President Donald Trump will host congressional leaders and families affected by the fentanyl epidemic on Wednesday for a signing ceremony on bipartisan legislation that would strengthen prison sentences for fentanyl traffickers, White House officials tell CNN.
The Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act, which recently passed both the Senate and the House with bipartisan support, represents a key priority for the president who has claimed the illicit flow of fentanyl is one of the underlying reasons for his tariff threats against Canada, Mexico and China.
The bill will place all fentanyl-related substances, specifically, copycat versions of the drug, on the US Drug Enforcement Administration’s list of most dangerous drugs, classifying them as Schedule I under the Controlled Substances Act.
The Trump administration argues the move will limit the incentive for cartels to create new synthetic, fentanyl-like drugs to evade the reach of the Controlled Substances Act.
“Under the HALT Fentanyl Act, anyone who possesses, imports, distributes, or manufactures any illicit FRS (fentanyl-related substances) will be subject to criminal prosecution in the same manner as any other Schedule I controlled substance,” a White House document on the legislation obtained by CNN reads.
“First, we close the loopholes criminals use to skirt around the law. Second, we make it easier for law enforcement to prosecute those criminals,” the document says.
While the legislation has received strong bipartisan support, some critics argue the bill could lead to harsh penalties for millions of people struggling with drug addiction, especially Black Americans.
The White House event, scheduled for 3 p.m. on Wednesday, will prominently feature families who have lost loved ones due to fentanyl use, including activist Anne Funder, who lost her eldest son — 15-year-old Weston — to fentanyl poisoning. Funder was also a speaker at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last year, where she called on the government to do more to deal with the fentanyl crisis in the US.
Gregory Swan, whose son Drew died of fentanyl poisoning, will also speak. In the years following his son’s death, Swan started a group known as Fentanyl Fathers, in which parents tell their story to high schools across America.
Jacqueline Siegel, the founder of Victoria’s Voice, an organization born from the loss of her 18-year-old daughter Victoria to a drug overdose in 2015, is also expected to speak.
House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune will attend the ceremony, the officials said. GOP Sens. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Bill Cassidy — who introduced the legislation with Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich — will also be in attendance.
Several organizations that have backed the legislation will also join the president for the ceremony, the officials said, including the Fraternal Order of Police and anti-immigration groups the Center for Immigration Studies and Federation for American Immigration Reform, among other drug, immigration and law enforcement groups.
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