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Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 32) to provide the Department of Justice with additional tools to target extraterritorial drug trafficking activity, and for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows: S. 32
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Transnational Drug Trafficking Act of 2015''. SEC. 2. POSSESSION, MANUFACTURE OR DISTRIBUTION FOR PURPOSES OF UNLAWFUL IMPORTATIONS.
Section 1009 of the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act (21 U.S.C. 959) is amended--
(1) by redesignating subsections (b) and (c) as subsections (c) and (d), respectively; and
(2) in subsection (a), by striking ``It shall'' and all that follows and inserting the following: ``It shall be unlawful for any person to manufacture or distribute a controlled substance in schedule I or II or flunitrazepam or a listed chemical intending, knowing, or having reasonable cause to believe that such substance or chemical will be unlawfully imported into the United States or into waters within a distance of 12 miles of the coast of the United States.
``(b) It shall be unlawful for any person to manufacture or distribute a listed chemical--
``(1) intending or knowing that the listed chemical will be used to manufacture a controlled substance; and
``(2) intending, knowing, or having reasonable cause to believe that the controlled substance will be unlawfully imported into the United States.''. SEC. 3. TRAFFICKING IN COUNTERFEIT GOODS OR SERVICES.
Chapter 113 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in section 2318(b)(2), by striking ``section 2320(e)'' and inserting ``section 2320(f)''; and
(2) in section 2320--
(A) in subsection (a), by striking paragraph (4) and inserting the following:
``(4) traffics in a drug and knowingly uses a counterfeit mark on or in connection with such drug,'';
(B) in subsection (b)(3), in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking ``counterfeit drug'' and inserting ``drug that uses a counterfeit mark on or in connection with the drug''; and
(C) in subsection (f), by striking paragraph (6) and inserting the following:
``(6) the term `drug' means a drug, as defined in section 201 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 321).''.
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Mr. GOODLATTE. 32, currently under consideration.
International drug traffickers are profiting off the misery of American citizens, including our children. In recent years, our Nation has experienced an epidemic of opioid abuse. A significant part of that epidemic involves the trafficking of illicit heroin across our borders and into our communities and homes. Every Member in this Chamber today has a heartbreaking story about a constituent or a constituent's child who has been lost to this scourge.
The irony, Mr. Speaker, is that international drug traffickers know our drug trafficking laws as well as, if not better than, most Americans do. They know that if they simply employ a middleman to take the drugs from them and transport them into the U.S., it makes it much harder, if not impossible, for U.S. law enforcement to prosecute them under those drug trafficking laws.
Why is it more difficult, you might ask. Because under current law the government must prove that a trafficker knew the drugs were headed for the United States. Drug trafficking organizations in Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and other Central and South American source nations sell their illicit products to Mexican traffickers who, in turn, traffic the drugs into the United States.
This makes it difficult, under current law, for Federal prosecutors to make cases against such source nation manufacturers, wholesale distributors, brokers, and transporters since direct evidence of their intent that the drugs are bound for the United States is difficult, if not impossible, to develop.
The result is that source nation malefactors who produce and distribute illegal narcotics escape prosecution under U.S. law because they feign ignorance of the drug's ultimate destination. This has happened with increasing regularity over the past several years, and it is Congress' responsibility to address this problem.
S. 32, the Transnational Drug Trafficking Act of 2015, is identical to H.R. 3380, legislation that was introduced by my Committee on the Judiciary colleagues, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Marino) and the gentleman from Puerto Rico (Mr. Pierluisi).
This bill makes crucial changes to our Federal drug laws to give law enforcement additional tools to combat extraterritorial drug trafficking. It does this by amending the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act to stipulate that, when a narcotics trafficker or manufacturer has a ``reasonable cause to believe'' that the illegal narcotics he produces or traffics will be sent into the U.S., the U.S. may prosecute him. This amendment will permit Federal prosecutors to pursue extraterritorial drug traffickers who are not directly smuggling drugs into the United States but who facilitate it.
S. 32 also amends the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act to address the increasingly prevalent problem of trafficking in listed chemicals, which are chemicals regulated by the DEA because they are used in the manufacture of controlled substances. During a recent codel to South and Central America, several of my colleagues and I heard firsthand how drug trafficking organizations have relied upon shadowy chemical suppliers in the manufacture of methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, and other dangerous narcotics. S. 32 would enable Federal prosecutors to reach chemical traffickers who knowingly facilitate and benefit from the illicit production and smuggling of listed chemicals.
Both of these amendments will allow Federal law enforcement to go after not the lowly drug mules moving drugs into the United States, but the criminals who facilitate at a high level, within the source nation, the trafficking of narcotics and precursor chemicals into the United States. As one law enforcement official has said to me, it is better to fight this battle there than here.
In addition to these important reforms, S. 32 also amends the criminal counterfeit law to include an intent requirement for trafficking in counterfeit drugs. I am pleased the House is taking up this important bill, which the Senate has already passed unanimously, so that it can move expeditiously to the President's desk.
I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.
House of Representatives, Committee on Energy and Commerce, Washington, DC, May 10, 2016. Hon. Bob Goodlatte, Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Goodlatte: I am writing to notify you that the Committee on Energy and Commerce will forgo action on S. 32, Transnational Drug Trafficking Act of 2015, so that it may proceed expeditiously to the House floor for consideration.
This is done with the understanding that the Committee on Energy and Commerce's jurisdictional interests over this and similar legislation are in no way altered. In addition, the Committee reserves the right to seek conferees on S. 32 and requests your support when such a request is made.
I would appreciate your response confirming this understanding and ask that a copy of our exchange of letters on this matter be included in the Congressional Record during consideration of the bill on the House floor. Sincerely, Fred Upton, Chairman. ____ House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Washington, DC, May 10, 2016. Hon. Fred Upton, Chairman, Committee on Energy and Commerce, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Upton: Thank you for your letter regarding S. 32, the ``Transnational Drug Trafficking Act of 2015,'' for which the Committee on Energy and Commerce received an additional referral.
I am most appreciative of your decision to forego formal consideration of S. 32 so that it may proceed to the House floor. I acknowledge that although you are waiving formal consideration of the bill, the Committee on Energy and Commerce is in no way waiving its jurisdiction over the subject matter contained in those provisions of the bill that fall within your Rule X jurisdiction. In addition, I would support your effort to seek appointment of an appropriate number of conferees on any House-Senate conference involving this legislation.
Finally, I am pleased to include this letter and your letter in the Congressional Record during floor consideration of S. 32. Sincerely, Bob Goodlatte, Chairman.
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Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Marino), a member of the Committee on the Judiciary and the chief sponsor of the House companion legislation to the bill before the House at this time.
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Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
I yield back the balance of my time.
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