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.

Bills Introduced – 1-3-24

Friday, under the shadow of the election of the Speaker of the House, there were 233 bills introduced in the House and Senate. Two of those bills will receive additional coverage in this blog:

HR 108 To allow the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to establish a research center for deep space and interplanetary research, and for other purposes. Biggs, Andy [Rep.-R-AZ-5]

HR 128 To require the Assistant Secretary for the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office of the Department of Homeland Security to treat illicit fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction, and for other purposes. Boebert, Lauren [Rep.-R-CO-4] 

NOTE 1: Eighty of the 214 bills introduced in the House were introduced by Rep Biggs (R, AZ). This is not really surprising, because he introduced 720 bills in the 118^th Congress. Only five of those bills passed in the House, and one ended up being vetoed by President Biden (the House was unable to override that veto). Biggs is a prolific crafter of partisan legislation, but lacks the influence to see these bills become law.

NOTE 2: I am going to try to track space related bills in earnest this session under my #SpaceGeek tag.