Sen. Sherrod Brown introduces bill to sanction China over fentanyl production (video)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Noting that an average of 11 Ohioans die each day from opioid overdoses, Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown on Thursday sponsored a bipartisan bill that would impose sanctions on China for producing fentanyl that makes its way to the United States.

The bill would require the administration to sanction drug manufacturers in China who knowingly provide synthetic opioids to traffickers, transnational criminal organizations like those in Mexico that mix fentanyl with other drugs and traffic them into the U.S. and financial institutions that assist such entities.

“We need to prevent these illegal products from ever entering our country,” Brown said at a press conference with other cosponsors of the bipartisan bill: Republicans Marco Rubio of Florida and Tom Cotton of Arkansas, and Democrats Chuck Schumer of New York and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire.

Schumer praised a new Chinese law that would make fentanyl illegal and praised the Trump administration for its efforts to secure the change. He said the proposed legislation will make sure China follows through on its crackdown and would “equip the administration with tools to systematically go after the major manufacturers and traffickers of fentanyl before the killer drug gets to the U.S.”

Cotton said China has been “taking advantage of the United States for too long and in too many ways, whether it is trafficking deadly fentanyl into our country, or cheating us on trade agreements or stealing our intellectual property,” and that more Republicans are recognizing that China is “not a partner, not an ally, they are an adversary on every front.”

“The flow of illicit fentanyl largely from China into the U.S. poses serious threats to our families, public health, economic vitality, and national security,” said Rubio. “This bipartisan effort to impose targeted sanctions on foreign illicit fentanyl manufacturers and traffickers makes clear that the U.S. will hold the Communist Chinese Government and other nations fully accountable when they turn a blind eye to international fentanyl trafficking.”

Schumer expressed optimism the measure will swiftly move through the Senate Banking Committee because it has support from Brown – its top Democrat – and its chairman, Idaho Republican Mike Crapo – is “very positively disposed to the legislation.”

“I’ve actually spoken to the president on this issue,” Schumer said. “And I think on this issue, we can get everybody on board. I think there’s a very, very good chance this passes the Senate, passes the House and is signed into law.”