{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://barr.house.gov/press-releases?ID=AC02A833-CAA6-4247-A675-54EDA9F32789", "House Passes Barr\u2019s Stop Chinese Fentanyl Act to Hold CCP Accountable", "2025-09-02", "2025", "2025-09", "Republican", "House", "KY", "Andy Barr", "B001282", "barr.house.gov", "barr", "https://barr.house.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2014 Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed U.S. Congressman Andy Barr\u2019s (R-KY-06) legislation, the Stop Chinese Fentanyl Act, to hold the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliates accountable for fueling America\u2019s fentanyl crisis.\n\nBarr\u2019s legislation cracks down on CCP fentanyl manufacturers by amending the Fentanyl Sanctions Act to expand the definition of \u201cforeign opioid trafficker,\u201d empowering the U.S. government to impose sanctions on Chinese individuals, organizations, and government officials who:\n\nProduce, sell, finance, or transport synthetic opioids or precursor chemicals;\n\nFail to implement \u201cknow-your-customer\u201d procedures; or\n\nRefuse to cooperate with U.S. counternarcotics efforts.\n\nThis legislation also requires the President to determine whether senior leaders in the Chinese government \u2014 including the heads of the National Narcotics Control Commission, the Ministry of Public Security, the General Administration of Customs, and the National Medical Products Administration \u2014 should be designated as foreign opioid traffickers.\n\n\u201cThe Chinese Communist Party has played a key part in the deadly fentanyl crisis plaguing Kentucky and our entire country \u2014 from manufacturing fentanyl in China to laundering the products through the cartels and into the country,\u201d said Congressman Barr. \u201cPresident Trump is securing our border after the chaos of the last four years under Joe Biden and border Czar Kamala Harris. The STOP Chinese Fentanyl Act will help President Trump and his team clean up the border by exerting maximum financial pain on the Chinese producers of this deadly drug.\u201d\n\n\u201cBefore President Trump took the oath of office, Communist China had taken advantage of Joe Biden\u2019s border crisis and poured fentanyl across our southern border,\u201d said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast (R-FL). \u201cThis legislation will further support the Trump Administration\u2019s efforts to stop the spread of these opioids across our borders and to hold accountable every individual involved in manufacturing, distributing, and selling these illicit drugs.\u201d\n\n\"China rewards companies with subsidies for exporting fentanyl and other drugs illegal under Chinese law to the United States,\u201d said House China Select Committee Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI). \u201cIt is now abundantly clear that the CCP is not just turning a blind eye to the fentanyl crisis, it is causing it.\"\n\n\u201cFentanyl is the leading cause of death for people my age down to my college daughter's age,\" said Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA) who cosponsored and voted for the bill. \"The Chinese Communist Party continues to turn a blind eye as its entities fuel the fentanyl crisis. I'm proud to pass this bill to hold bad actors accountable, whether they are across our border or across the globe.\"\n\n\u201cKentucky\u2019s Fraternal Order of Police applauds Congressman Andy Barr for leading the charge to stop fentanyl right at the source,\u201d said Berl Perdue, the Sheriff of Clark County and the President of the Kentucky Fraternal Order of Police. \u201cKentucky police officers have responded to too many crimes and too many tragedies because of this deadly poison. Congressman Barr has our back.\u201d\n\n\u201cFentanyl is the leading cause of overdose deaths in Kentucky and across the nation. Congressman Barr\u2019s legislation targeting Chinese Communist Party\u2013linked fentanyl producers is a critical step forward, and we commend his leadership in this fight,\u201d said Ron Lafferty, President of the Kentucky Narcotics Officers\u2019 Association.\n\nBackground on the Fentanyl Crisis\n\nFentanyl is now the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 45, responsible for nearly 70% of drug overdose deaths.\n\nIn 2022, 73,838 Americans lost their lives to synthetic opioid overdoses.\n\nFrom September 2023 to August 2024, nearly 58,000 Americans died of an opioid overdose, including 1,984 Kentuckians in 2023 alone.\n\nThe Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) estimates that a majority of fentanyl is sourced from China.\n\nIn the past two years, the U.S. Treasury\u2019s Office of Foreign Assets Control has sanctioned more than 300 entities for drug trafficking.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T15:07:37Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://barr.house.gov/press-releases?ID=AC02A833-CAA6-4247-A675-54EDA9F32789"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8553499355912209, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}