Washington, D.C. — Today, House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) released the following statement after Rep. Mike Bishop (R-MI) and Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) introduced the Securing the International Mail Against Opioids Act of 2018 (H.R. 5788). The Committee will mark up this legislation on Wednesday, May 16, at 2:00 PM in room 1100 of the Longworth House Office Building as part of a bipartisan package aimed to help stop the abuse of and distribution of opioids:

“This bipartisan legislation led by Congressman Bishop will impose new requirements on the Postal Service and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to address the opioids epidemic by securing the international mail, which is too often a means for smuggling dangerous synthetic opioids like fentanyl into the United States.

“H.R. 5788 would require the Postal Service to do for international mail shipments what private carriers have done for over a decade: obtain advance electronic data on its shipments and transmit that data to CBP so that it can target high-risk international mail shipments, including those containing fentanyl. This legislation will protect Americans and make it harder for criminals to bring harmful substances into this country by holding the Postal Service and CBP accountable for more effectively screening international mail. I applaud the efforts of Congressman Bishop on this bill and look forward to moving swiftly on this vital legislation.”

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