A bill to crack down on fentanyl by raising penalties for trafficking pill-press equipment, making the DEA write a plan to catch counterfeit pills, and requiring annual reports on seizures and prosecutions. Both parties support it, so the actual debate was mostly a contest over who cares more: the bill's author talked up his decade as a cop and blamed the other party's policies for overdose deaths, while the other side agreed to pass it but spent their time complaining that treatment programs got defunded and asking for more spending to go with the handcuffs.Written by GLM 5.3 Flash. Updated .
“I want this bill to pass. I support it. Let's talk about this bill.”
“I want the House to pass this bill to increase penalties for making fentanyl and fake pills.”
“Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 8005) to amend the Controlled Substances Act to prohibit certain acts related to fentanyl, analogues of fentanyl, and counterfeit substances, and for other purposes, as amended. The Clerk read the title of the bill. The text of the bill is as follows:”
Official Congressional Record
Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 8005) to amend the Controlled Substances Act to prohibit certain acts related to fentanyl, analogues of fentanyl, and counterfeit substances, and for other purposes, as amended. The Clerk read the title of the bill. The text of the bill is as follows:
“I want this bill to pass. I support it. This bill will help stop bad people. They make pills that kill people. The DEA will get more power. I like my friend from Colorado who wrote this bill. Let's all support this bill.”
“I want the House to pass this bill. Drug traffickers use pill presses to make fake pills filled with fentanyl and meth. Last year, federal agents seized more than 47 million of these fake fentanyl pills. This bill helps the government crack down on the machines used to make them.”
“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 8005, the Stop Pills That Kill Act, that my good friend from Colorado (Mr. Evans) has brought forward. The threat posed by illicit pill presses has risen as drug traffickers continue to press fentanyl, methamphetamine, and other illicit drugs into drug pills. In 2025 alone, DEA seized over 47 million fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills. This bill makes important regulatory changes to strengthen DEA's ability to stop bad actors from misusing pill presses, tableting, and encapsulating machines and their critical components to illicitly manufacture controlled substances to poison our communities. This bill will make our streets safer. I applaud the tireless efforts of my friend from Colorado to protect Americans from these threats. Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.”
Official Congressional Record
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 8005, the Stop Pills That Kill Act, that my good friend from Colorado (Mr. Evans) has brought forward. The threat posed by illicit pill presses has risen as drug traffickers continue to press fentanyl, methamphetamine, and other illicit drugs into drug pills. In 2025 alone, DEA seized over 47 million fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills. This bill makes important regulatory changes to strengthen DEA's ability to stop bad actors from misusing pill presses, tableting, and encapsulating machines and their critical components to illicitly manufacture controlled substances to poison our communities. This bill will make our streets safer. I applaud the tireless efforts of my friend from Colorado to protect Americans from these threats. Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.
“I support this bill. We worked together to fight overdoses. But only enforcing laws won't save people. Treatment and tools to help people are better. The other side cut money for treatment. They took apart the agency that helps people. They kept money from programs that help. We need to work together. Pass this bill and give money back to help people.”
“I support this bill because it cracks down on the equipment and supply chains used to make fake fentanyl pills. But police work alone will not save lives. We also need addiction treatment and tools like test strips and naloxone. The Trump administration is cutting funding for treatment and overdose prevention, and that needs to stop.”
“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 8005. This legislation addresses the supply chains that turn illicit chemicals into counterfeit pills by targeting the equipment, importation, and production behind the fentanyl crisis. Over the past several years, we have worked together in a strong, bipartisan way to make real progress in combating the overdose crisis. However, it is important to recognize that an enforcement-only strategy is not the answer. This legislation prioritizes enforcement, and enforcement alone ultimately does not save lives. The good news is that we know what does: expanding access to treatment for opioid use disorder and harm-reduction interventions like fentanyl test strips and naloxone. That is why the Trump administration's actions to slash substance use treatment funding is so alarming. It could threaten the real progress that we have made. The Trump administration has dismantled the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, SAMHSA, the agency responsible for addressing the overdose crisis, and it has kept hundreds of millions of dollars in addiction and overdose prevention funding. If we truly want to protect our community, we need to work together to increase access to treatment and stop these attacks from this administration. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.”
Official Congressional Record
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 8005. This legislation addresses the supply chains that turn illicit chemicals into counterfeit pills by targeting the equipment, importation, and production behind the fentanyl crisis. Over the past several years, we have worked together in a strong, bipartisan way to make real progress in combating the overdose crisis. However, it is important to recognize that an enforcement-only strategy is not the answer. This legislation prioritizes enforcement, and enforcement alone ultimately does not save lives. The good news is that we know what does: expanding access to treatment for opioid use disorder and harm-reduction interventions like fentanyl test strips and naloxone. That is why the Trump administration's actions to slash substance use treatment funding is so alarming. It could threaten the real progress that we have made. The Trump administration has dismantled the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, SAMHSA, the agency responsible for addressing the overdose crisis, and it has kept hundreds of millions of dollars in addiction and overdose prevention funding. If we truly want to protect our community, we need to work together to increase access to treatment and stop these attacks from this administration. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
“I want my bill to pass. I am the author. I say the bill will stop fake pills and save lives. I was a police officer for ten years. I know about drugs. The other party in my state is weak on crime. Their policies caused more deaths. My bill stops that. The bill does three things: it punishes criminals more, adds serial numbers to pill machines, and makes some pill machines illegal. The other party made bad policies before. This is important. My friend's brother died from fentanyl. I want everyone to vote for my bill.”
“I want Congress to pass this bill to stop fentanyl deaths. In my home state of Colorado, overdose deaths are rising because of weak drug laws. This bill increases prison time for drug dealers and cracks down on the machines used to make fake pills.”
“Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Kentucky for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise today in strong support of my bill to help combat the epidemic of fentanyl deaths that have been driven by the proliferation of counterfeit pills. My bill, the Stop Pills That Kill Act, is commonsense legislation that will help save American lives by cracking down on criminals who traffic poison disguised as prescription drugs. Under Republican leadership, the United States has thankfully seen a steep decline in monthly synthetic opioid deaths, driven by policies that strengthen border security and target cartels and drug dealers. Unfortunately, my State of Colorado has seen the exact opposite trend, with an average overdose rate of about 800 deaths per month at the end of 2024 increasing to 1,000 deaths now. Because Colorado's trends have not matched the Nation and have, in fact, gone the other direction, my State has, unfortunately, seen more than 1,600 tragic and preventable excess overdose deaths. I was a cop in the Denver area for over a decade. I know that this figure isn't just a tragic coincidence. It is a direct result of failed policies. While I was working to keep communities in Colorado safe from the poison that is fentanyl, Denver Democrats chose repeatedly to push soft-on-crime policies that lessened criminal sentencing for drug offenses while refusing to take a hard line on fentanyl. The Stop Pills That Kill Act counteracts these deadly policies by doing three simple things: It closes a sentencing loophole that allows poison peddlers off with a slap on the wrist. It implements serialization requirements for pill presses and their critical components. And it makes it illegal to manufacture, distribute, or import pill presses with the intent to illicitly produce a controlled substance. I will remind my colleagues that every 15 days under the previous administration we lost the same number of Americans to drug overdose deaths that we lost in the entirety of the September 11 terrorist attacks. I was a cop for 10 years, and I was a soldier for 12. I deployed to a combat zone as part of the global war on terror, and that statistic speaks volumes. We must remember the impacts that fentanyl has had on hundreds of thousands of American families. During the legislative process, two bills were folded into mine, the Fight Illicit Pill Presses Act, led by Representative Hageman, and the PRESS Act led by Representative McDowell. I thank both of them for their work, but I want to particularly recognize my friend, Mr. McDowell, who tragically lost his own brother to fentanyl nearly 10 years ago. Representative McDowell's dedication to fighting this crisis is a fitting honor to his brother's legacy. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this critically important, commonsense bill.”
Official Congressional Record
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Kentucky for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise today in strong support of my bill to help combat the epidemic of fentanyl deaths that have been driven by the proliferation of counterfeit pills. My bill, the Stop Pills That Kill Act, is commonsense legislation that will help save American lives by cracking down on criminals who traffic poison disguised as prescription drugs. Under Republican leadership, the United States has thankfully seen a steep decline in monthly synthetic opioid deaths, driven by policies that strengthen border security and target cartels and drug dealers. Unfortunately, my State of Colorado has seen the exact opposite trend, with an average overdose rate of about 800 deaths per month at the end of 2024 increasing to 1,000 deaths now. Because Colorado's trends have not matched the Nation and have, in fact, gone the other direction, my State has, unfortunately, seen more than 1,600 tragic and preventable excess overdose deaths. I was a cop in the Denver area for over a decade. I know that this figure isn't just a tragic coincidence. It is a direct result of failed policies. While I was working to keep communities in Colorado safe from the poison that is fentanyl, Denver Democrats chose repeatedly to push soft-on-crime policies that lessened criminal sentencing for drug offenses while refusing to take a hard line on fentanyl. The Stop Pills That Kill Act counteracts these deadly policies by doing three simple things: It closes a sentencing loophole that allows poison peddlers off with a slap on the wrist. It implements serialization requirements for pill presses and their critical components. And it makes it illegal to manufacture, distribute, or import pill presses with the intent to illicitly produce a controlled substance. I will remind my colleagues that every 15 days under the previous administration we lost the same number of Americans to drug overdose deaths that we lost in the entirety of the September 11 terrorist attacks. I was a cop for 10 years, and I was a soldier for 12. I deployed to a combat zone as part of the global war on terror, and that statistic speaks volumes. We must remember the impacts that fentanyl has had on hundreds of thousands of American families. During the legislative process, two bills were folded into mine, the Fight Illicit Pill Presses Act, led by Representative Hageman, and the PRESS Act led by Representative McDowell. I thank both of them for their work, but I want to particularly recognize my friend, Mr. McDowell, who tragically lost his own brother to fentanyl nearly 10 years ago. Representative McDowell's dedication to fighting this crisis is a fitting honor to his brother's legacy. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this critically important, commonsense bill.
“I think the bill fights fentanyl. I want to pass the bill. I also want more government programs. And more spending on treatment. I want more money spent. We need to do that too.”
“I want the House to pass this bill. It stops people from making fake pills with illegal chemicals. We need to do this to fight the fentanyl crisis, along with funding addiction treatment.”
“Mr. Speaker, as we have noted, this legislation addresses supply chains that turn illicit chemicals into counterfeit pills, and it is a critical part of fighting back against the fentanyl crisis. We must do this and more, restoring funding, restoring programs, and ensuring access to treatment. For these reasons, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.”
Official Congressional Record
Mr. Speaker, as we have noted, this legislation addresses supply chains that turn illicit chemicals into counterfeit pills, and it is a critical part of fighting back against the fentanyl crisis. We must do this and more, restoring funding, restoring programs, and ensuring access to treatment. For these reasons, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
