Brown Secures China Fentanyl Sanctions in Key Defense Bill

Press Release

U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today announced that he secured his bipartisan Fentanyl Sanctions Act as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that is currently being considered on the Senate floor. Brown's bill would give U.S. officials new sanctions tools to target foreign opioid traffickers in China, Mexico and other countries, and better enable U.S. diplomats and law enforcement officials to maintain pressure on the Chinese government to implement and strictly enforce China's commitment to treat all forms of illicit fentanyl as illegal. Cities throughout Ohio -- including Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus -- have experienced spikes in suspected overdose deaths recently, and law enforcement officials believe fentanyl is largely to blame. Brown originally introduced this bill with Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).

"On average, 14 Ohioans will die every day in Ohio due to an opioid overdose," said Brown. "The addiction crisis has taken too many lives and caused too much devastation in Ohio. This bill will add effective new sanctions tools to help combat the flood of illicit fentanyl coming into the U.S. primarily from China and Mexico, and help provide intelligence and funding to keep these dangerous drugs out of Ohio communities."

Brown's Fentanyl Sanctions Act would help crack down on illegal fentanyl coming to Ohio by:

Requiring imposition of sanctions on foreign drug traffickers, drug manufacturers in China who knowingly provide illicit synthetic opioids to traffickers, individuals or firms operating alone or as part of transnational criminal organizations like those in Mexico who mix fentanyl with other drugs and traffic them into the U.S., and foreign financial institutions and others that knowingly assist such trafficking;
Authorizing new funding to law enforcement and intelligence agencies, including the Departments of Treasury, Defense and State, to combat the foreign trafficking of opioids;
Urging the President to commence diplomatic efforts with U.S. partners to establish multilateral sanctions and to deploy other multilateral measures against foreign opioid traffickers;
Establishing a National Commission on Synthetic Opioid Trafficking to monitor U.S. efforts and report on how to more effectively combat the flow of illicit synthetic opioids from China, Mexico and elsewhere.
The fentanyl sanctions follow Brown's successful efforts to pass enact his INTERDICT Act into law, which provided U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) with additional hi-tech screening equipment and lab resources to detect fentanyl before it enters the U.S.

Chinese Rail Cars

In addition to fentanyl sanctions, Brown also secured his Transit Infrastructure Vehicle Security Act, which he introduced with U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Mike Crapo (R-ID). This legislation would prevent federal funds from being used by transit agencies to purchase rail cars or buses manufactured by Chinese owned, controlled, or subsidized companies.

"This strong bipartisan bill protects federal dollars from being spent on Chinese buses and railcars, and improves cybersecurity in public transportation," said Brown. "Federal dollars should not support Chinese state-controlled enterprises that want to undermine U.S. manufacturers and overtake our supply chain that supports rail and bus manufacturing."

Additional Background:

The Chinese government continues to use a range of state subsidies and predatory practices to support its market ascension in certain sectors of the United States' economy. Two of these sectors, rail manufacturing and bus manufacturing, are included as part of China's "Made in China 2025" initiative, a plan targeting global dominance in areas that the Chinese government considers most strategic to its global aims.

Chinese state-owned and state-supported enterprises have used subsidized "bargain prices" well-below competitive market price to win contracts throughout the United States. A number of large, metropolitan areas have recently awarded rail rolling stock procurements to a Chinese state-owned enterprise. There are a number of threats these procurements pose including impeding economic competitiveness and overtaking the supply chains that support United States public transportation agencies. Chinese state-owned and state-supported enterprises have increased security vulnerabilities and create new risks for rolling stock procurements.

Specifically, the Transit Infrastructure Vehicle Security Act would prevent federal transit funds from being used by transit agencies to procure Chinese rail assets and ensure transit agencies develop and execute a cybersecurity plan.

Limitation on Certain Rolling Stock Procurements: This legislation prevents federal transit dollars from being used to award a contract or subcontract for the procurement of passenger rail cars or transit buses to Chinese state-owned, controlled or subsidized enterprises. The bill would create a certification process for transit agencies to ensure their funds are not being used to purchase rolling stock from a covered manufacturer. A narrow exception would be made for transportation agencies with a pre-existing contract or subcontract with a covered rail rolling stock manufacturer executed prior to the date of enactment.
Cybersecurity Certification: Given the level of technology and growing complexity of rail rolling stock assets, it is important that proper cybersecurity standards are in place. This legislation would require any transit operator that operates rail transit service to develop and execute a plan for identifying and reducing cybersecurity risks. Recipients of federal transit assistance would be required to review best practices and to identify any hardware and software components of new rolling stock assets that should undergo third-party testing.