Review – HR 128 Introduce – Fentanyl as WMD

Last month, Rep Boebert (R,CO) introduced HR 128, the Fentanyl is a WMD Act. The very short bill would direct the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office of the Department of Homeland Security to treat illicit fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction. No funding authorization is provided in this legislation.

HR 128 is identical to HR 7190 that was introduced by Boebert in February of last year. No action was taken on that bill.

Moving Forward

While Boebert is not a member of the House Homeland Security Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration, this session one of her eight cosponsors {Rep Ogles (R,TN)} is a member. This means that there may be sufficient influence to see the bill considered in Committee. I would expect there to be significant bipartisan opposition to the bill were it to be considered, but there could be enough votes for the Committee to favorably recommend the bill to the full House.

Commentary

While fentanyl may broadly fall within the scope of the definition of the term ‘weapon of mass destruction’, there is nothing within the current scope or mission of the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office that would help the federal government reduce the flow of that drug, or it’s precursors, into this country. Either the sponsors of this bill are unaware of the mission of the CWMD Office, or this legislation is just another bit of political grandstanding. In my opinion, while I would not be surprised at these particular congresscritters being uniformed, I suspect the latter.

 

For more information about the provisions of this bill, including additional commentary on future of the CWMD Office, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-128-introduce - subscription required.