The United States House of Representatives approved a bipartisan bill sponsored by Rep. James Comer, R-Tompkinsville, to reauthorize the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) on a 399-1 vote, sending the issue to the Senate for consideration.
Comer introduced the proposal to guarantee that federal authorities are fully equipped to bring drug traffickers accountable, particularly along the southwest border. The bipartisan bill also reauthorizes the High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program, which assists local law enforcement in coordinating efforts to combat drug traffickers.
“Today, the House of Representatives took action to address the drug crisis that has claimed too many lives across our country,” Comer stated following the bill’s approval.
“The Office of National Drug Control Policy is critical to combatting the fentanyl and drug pandemic that is hurting communities across the United States. My bipartisan ONDCP Reauthorization Act gives the tools needed to address this situation. It assures that federal agencies in charge of border security and drug trafficking prosecution are making the best use of their resources to keep illegal substances from crossing the Southwest border. I urge the Senate to move quickly on this bill so that we can get it to the president’s desk for signature.”
The provisions of the bill (H.R. 9598) include:
• Reauthorizes several ONDCP initiatives, including Drug Court Training and Technical Assistance, Model Acts, Community-Based Coalition Enhancement Grants, and the National Community Anti-Drug Coalition Institute.
• Implements essential provisions of the HIDTA Reauthorization Act (H.R. 7185), introduced by Reps. John Duarte (R-Calif.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), to strengthen local law enforcement and temporarily transfer prosecutorial resources to combat fentanyl.
• Enacts the Caribbean Border Counternarcotics Strategy Act (H.R. 920), sponsored by Reps. Jenniffer González-Colón (R-Puerto Rico) and Stacy Plaskett (D-Virgin Islands), to ensure that the ONDCP continues to deliver strategies to combat drug trafficking in the Caribbean.
• Directs the ONDCP Director to research life-saving opioid overdose reversal medications.
• Directs the ONDCP Director to work with the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, and State to ensure that appropriate agencies have adequate resources to hold illicit drug traffickers accountable under Title 8 immigration authority.
• Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to report to the ONDCP Director on the impact of contacts at the southwest border on Customs and Border Protection’s capacity to intercept dangerous, illicit substances.
