{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.banks.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senator-banks-applauds-president-trumps-decision-to-declare-fentanyl-a-weapon-of-mass-destruction/", "Senator Banks Applauds President Trump\u2019s Decision to Declare Fentanyl a Weapon of Mass Destruction", "2025-12-16", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "IN", "Jim Banks", "B001299", "www.banks.senate.gov", "banks", "https://www.banks.senate.gov/news/press-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C, \u2013 Today, Senator Jim Banks (R-Ind.) applauded President Trump\u2019s decision to designate fentanyl as a \u201cweapon of mass destruction,\u201d as part of efforts to stop the deadly threat posed by narco-terrorists.\n\nSenator Banks\u2019 first bill in the 119th Congress was the Countering Beijing\u2019s Weaponization (CBW) of Fentanyl Act. This legislation would amend the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 to define fentanyl and fentanyl precursors as chemical and biological weapons in U.S. law. This bill would also sanction Chinese Communist Party officials for refusing to curb the flow of fentanyl precursors to the United States.\n\nSenator Jim Banks: (R-Ind.): \u201cDeclaring fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction is a critical step to combating the deadly flow of poison coming into our country. President Trump is fighting back against the CCP and narco-terrorists who want to kill our kids.\u201d\n\nFull text of the bill can be found here.\n\nRead more about Senator Banks\u2019 bill here.\n\nBackground:\n\nSenator Jim Banks previously introduced the Countering Beijing\u2019s Weaponization (CBW) of Fentanyl Act last year as a member of the House of Representatives.\n\nAdditionally, then-Rep. Banks introduced the Stop CCP Fentanyl Act, which aimed to sanction Chairman Xi and China unless they halted fentanyl exports. His amendment to the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, requiring the Department of Defense to determine whether PRC officials assisted in or were aware of the transportation of fentanyl precursors to Mexican drug cartels, was signed into law.\n\n2,130 Hoosiers lost their lives to overdoses in 2023, with the primary cause being fentanyl.\n\nIn 2023, the DEA seized over 80 million fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills and nearly 12,000 pounds of fentanyl powder\u2014equivalent to more than 390 million lethal doses.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "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://www.banks.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senator-banks-applauds-president-trumps-decision-to-declare-fentanyl-a-weapon-of-mass-destruction/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.2855550739914179, "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"}