Sen. Dave McCormick introduces first bill to fight fentanyl trafficking

Julia Terruso, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Mar 11, 2025

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Sen. Dave McCormick introduced a bipartisan bill on Monday to establish a joint task force aimed at curbing fentanyl distribution into the United States.

The bill, cosponsored by Democratic Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., and Chris Coons, D-Del., would designate a centralized group made up of representatives from a dozen government agencies to jointly “disrupt trafficking networks, enforce sanctions” and address China’s role in the opioid crisis.

“Fentanyl killed nearly 4,000 Pennsylvanians last year and over 200 Americans each day,” McCormick said in a statement. “This legislation would empower our federal government to coordinate all the tools at its disposal to combat the trafficking of lethal fentanyl that is ruining American families. I’ve heard from too many families who have lost their loved ones to fentanyl overdoses, I refuse to allow it to continue.”

McCormick made tackling fentanyl and its distribution chains from China a central theme of his Senate campaign.

The text of the bill makes the case that no central entity exists where agencies can share information and coordinate efforts to combat opioid distribution. The Department of Justice, Treasury, Homeland Security, the FBI, Commerce, Defense, and National Intelligence would all be represented on the task force.

A director appointed by the President, and reporting to the Attorney General, would submit a report 180 days after taking the helm, according to the bill. The bill seeks a plan covering the next two years outlining how to improve collaboration and funding.

The bill specifies the task force would not be authorized to “investigate, target or prosecute individuals for personal drug use or to pursue enforcement actions against low-level drug dealing,” unrelated to larger trafficking networks.

Overdose deaths have dropped nationally in the last year but only after an alarmingly steady rise.

The city’s 2023 fatal overdose numbers were three times higher than they were in 2013. And overdose deaths are rising among older Black men in Philadelphia, an analysis in December found.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported an estimated 3% decrease in overdose deaths in the U.S. in 2023 compared with 2022. Data from the Philadelphia Department of Public Health showed fatal overdoses across the city decreased 7% in 2023, from 1,207 to 1,122.

The city is expected to release its 2024 data in the spring of 2025.

Illegally manufactured fentanyl is made in China, Mexico, and India and exported to the U.S. in powder or pill form. Pure fentanyl is more than 50 times stronger than heroin and street-obtained fentanyl can be even more potent, an unpredictability that makes it especially deadly.

“Fentanyl claims a Pennsylvanian’s life nearly every two hours — it’s a crisis that demands a crisis-level response,” Fetterman said in a release. “This bill creates a task force of experts with real experience busting up international criminal rings to disrupt supply chains and pursue the traffickers exploiting our communities. As I’ve said before, I’ll work with anyone to get this poison off our streets, and this task force is a step in that direction.”

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