WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives earlier this week passed bipartisan, bicameral legislation that would allow the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to establish a Joint Task Force to better coordinate the interdiction of illicit fentanyl and other opioids entering the United States that U.S. Senator Claire McCaskillintroduced in the Senate. The Joint Task Force to Combat Opioid Trafficking Act now awaits consideration in the Senate—where McCaskill urged her colleagues to act quickly.

“We need an all hands on deck approach from government agencies to combat this ongoing public health crisis—and this bill will help coordinate those efforts,” said McCaskill, the top-ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. “I’m glad my House colleagues were able to work in a bipartisan way to get this done, and I would urge my Senate colleagues to do the same and get this bill to the President’s desk.”

Currently the Secretary of Homeland Security is authorized to establish Joint Task Forces for various purposes related to securing the land and maritime borders of the United States. McCaskill’s legislation expands the purposes of these task forces to include interdicting fentanyl and other opioids entering the United States, and it encourages DHS to work with private sector entities, such as parcel carriers, in creating such a task force.

Earlier this year, McCaskill released a report that showed that amount of illicit opioid fentanyl seized by the Department of Homeland Security has increased dramatically, and that the overwhelming majority of fentanyl seizures are occurring at ports of entry. In 2016, approximately 115 people in the United States died every day from an opioid-related drug overdose, amounting to over 42,000 fatalities in a single year. While many individuals battling addiction still use heroin and over-the-counter opiates, the emergence of fentanyl has rapidly increased the deadliness of the opioid epidemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention examined opioid overdoses in ten states and found more than half of the deaths attributable to opioid overdoses involved fentanyl. Most cases of fentanyl-related death or overdose are linked to illicitly produced fentanyl, 90% of which is produced in China.

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