I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1542 

To require a report that identifies each person in the People’s Republic 

of China and Chinese Government official involved in the production 

of fentanyl and its trafficking into the United States, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 5, 2019 

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. FLEISCHMANN, Mr. 

GREEN of Tennessee, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. LIPINSKI, Miss GONZA ́LEZCOLO ́N of Puerto Rico, and Mr. RATCLIFFE) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition 

to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To require a report that identifies each person in the People’s Republic of China and Chinese Government official 

involved in the production of fentanyl and its trafficking 

into the United States, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Combating Illicit 

5 Fentanyl Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) America’s overdose epidemic is spreading 

4 geographically, is increasing across all demographic 

5 groups and the sharp increase in drug overdose 

6 deaths in the United States between 2015 to 2016 

7 was fueled by a surge in illicit fentanyl, a highly po8 tent drug about 80 to 100 times as strong as mor9 phine by weight and is 30 to 40 times stronger than 

10 heroin by weight, as well as fentanyl-related com11 pound analogue overdoses. 

12 (2) Fentanyl began to appear on United States 

13 streets in the early 2000s, in recent years it has be14 come a major international drug control issue as 

15 overdose deaths from its abuse continue to rise, with 

16 a spike beginning in 2013. Foreign-sourced fentanyl 

17 killed more Americans in 2016 than all other illicit 

18 drugs, and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and 

19 tramadol accounted for more than 29,000 United 

20 States drug overdose deaths in 2017, according to 

21 provisional data from the Centers for Disease Con22 trol and Prevention. Illicit fentanyl is not a diverged 

23 pharmaceutical product, is illicitly manufactured, 

24 and is clandestinely distributed and integrated into 

25 the illicit drug supply, usually sold as ‘‘heroin’’ in 


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1 powder form, or as counterfeit opioid or 

2 benzodiazepine pills. 

3 (3) In Ocean County, New Jersey, based on 

4 data from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, in 

5 2014, 10 percent of all overdose deaths had fentanyl 

6 in their systems, and by 2018 that number had risen 

7 to 80 percent. 

8 (4) The Drug Enforcement Administration re9 ports that of the illicit fentanyl class substances and 

10 hundreds of other designer drugs it has identified, 

11 ‘‘the vast majority . . . are manufactured in 

12 China’’. In 2018, a year-long congressional probe 

13 found that illicit fentanyl could easily be bought on14 line from Chinese ‘‘labs’’ and mailed to the United 

15 States due to gaps in oversight in the United States 

16 Postal Service, and despite increased cooperation be17 tween United States and Chinese counter-narcotics 

18 agencies, illicit fentanyl is still shipped to the United 

19 States. 

20 (5) According to written testimony submitted to 

21 Congress by the RAND Corporation, regulatory ca22 pacity in China is inadequate to effectively police its 

23 expansive pharmaceutical and chemical industries, 

24 and according to the United States-China Economic 

25 and Security Review Commission, corrupt practices 


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1 among local officials limit the effectiveness of regula2 tions and allows criminal actors to facilitate the 

3 fentanyl trade. 

4 (6) In June 2018, $1,700,000 worth of Chinese 

5 fentanyl was detected by counternarcotics agents in 

6 a Philadelphia port during a routine inspection, 

7 China has publicly gone to great lengths to shirk re8 sponsibility for illicit fentanyl emanating out of the 

9 country, and in June 2018, Chinese official Liu 

10 Yuejin blamed the crisis on the American people, 

11 saying ‘‘When fewer and fewer Americans use 

12 fentanyl, there would be no market for it’’, ignoring 

13 the Chinese supply of the illicit substance, and 

14 China fails to effectively regulate precursor chemi15 cals, including fentanyl precursors. 

16 (7) According to Dr. Daniel Ciccarone’s street17 based research, fentanyl lacks a lingo or slang, indi18 cating that this is more of a supply than a demand 

19 issue and its intentional use is far outweighed by 

20 non-intentional use. On September 6, 2018, at a 

21 hearing before the House Committee on Foreign Af22 fairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global 

23 Human Rights, and International Organizations, ex24 pert private witnesses from diverse professional and 


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1 academic backgrounds all concurred that China can 

2 do more to stem the flow of fentanyl. 

3 (8) According to the United Nations General 

4 Assembly, the drug trade poses a threat to ‘‘develop5 ment, peace and security and human rights’’, and 

6 the United Nations Convention against 

7 Transnational Organized Crime (the Palermo Con8 vention), a multilateral treaty against transnational 

9 organized crime including in the realm of narcotics 

10 signed and ratified by China which entered into 

11 force in 2003, obligates States Parties to ‘‘ensure ef12 fective action by its authorities in the prevention, de13 tection and punishment of the corruption of public 

14 officials’’. 

15 (9) Combating illicit fentanyl is a top priority 

16 of the Trump Administration and the President has 

17 called it ‘‘outrageous’’ that fentanyl comes from 

18 China. The Trump Administration has both high19 lighted China’s role in the crisis and targeted Chi20 nese manufacturers and traffickers, and at an Au21 gust 16, 2018, cabinet meeting, President Trump di22 rected then Attorney General Sessions to step up ef23 forts to stem inflows of fentanyl from China. 

24 (10) Statewide in New York, the number of 

25 fentanyl related deaths increased by nearly 160 perVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:14 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1542.IH H1542

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1 cent from 2015 to 2016. In April 2018, in Suffolk 

2 County, New York, Federal agents seized more than 

3 90 lbs of fentanyl and heroin with $10,000,000 

4 street value, the largest opioid bust in Suffolk Coun5 ty history to date. 

6 (11) At the 2018 G20 summit in Buenos Aires, 

7 China had agreed to tighten fentanyl controls. How8 ever, there has not yet been demonstratable and sus9 tained evidence of commitment. 

10 SEC. 3. REPORT. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

12 date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, 

13 the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Treasury 

14 shall jointly submit to the appropriate congressional com15 mittees a report that identifies each person in the People’s 

16 Republic of China and Chinese Government official in17 volved in the production of fentanyl and its trafficking into 

18 the United States. 

19 (b) FORM.—The report required by subsection (a) 

20 shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may contain 

21 a classified annex. 

22 (c) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE23 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congres24 sional committees’’ means— 


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1 (1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 

2 Committee on Financial Services, and the Com3 mittee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 

4 Representatives; and 

5 (2) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the 

6 Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Af7 fairs, the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

8 Transportation, and the Committee on Health, Edu9 cation, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate. 

10 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

11 It is the sense of Congress that— 

12 (1) the President should impose financial sanc13 tions under the International Emergency Economic 

14 Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) against each 

15 person and government official identified in the re16 port required by section 3; 

17 (2) the President should impose sanctions 

18 under section 1263(b) of the National Defense Au19 thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (22 U.S.C. 

20 2656 note) against each person and government offi21 cial identified in the report required by section 3 

22 that meet the criteria under paragraph (3) or (4) of 

23 section 1263(a) of such Act; 

24 (3) the President should impose financial sanc25 tions pursuant to section 805 of the Foreign NarVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:14 Mar 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1542.IH H1542

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1 cotics Kingpin Designation Act (21 U.S.C. 1904) 

2 against each person and government official identi3 fied in the report required by section 3; and 

4 (4) the President should exclude each person 

5 and government official identified in the report re6 quired by section 3 as ineligible for visas or admis7 sion to the United States pursuant to section 

8 212(a)(2)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality 

9 Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(2)(C)). 

Æ 


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