Weve had this year and were leaving this here to honor our over 40year commitment of live gaveltogavel coverage of congress. House lawmakers are coming back in for more member speeches. They will consider a measure to impose sanctions of chinese producers of synthetic opioid. House leaders are hoping to finish Appropriations Bills for military and construction projects. As always, live coverage of the house on cspan. Pursuan t to clause 8 rule 20 the chair will postponequestions on which a recorded vote of the yeas and nays are ordered or votes objected to under clause 6 of rule 20. The house will resume proceedings on postponement questions at a later time. For what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky seek recognition . I move the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h. R. 1684 as amended. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. H. R. 1684 a bill to require the secretary of state to submit an annual report to Congress Regarding the ties between criminal gangs of political and economic elites in haiti and impose sanctions involved on such criminal activities. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from kentucky, mr. Barr and the gentleman from new york, mr. Meeks, each will control 20 minutes. Ms. Barragan i ask unanimous consent mr. Barr that all members may have five legislative days. I ask unanimous consent to place into the record the exchange of the letters. I yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized mr. Barr prolonged political instability, exceptionally high poverty levels, a resurgence of cholera, food insecurity, a crippling inflation crisis, continuous natural disasters, lack to Adequate Health care, distressing levels of insecurity, these are the ongoing cries sees facing the people of haiti and they are being made worse by oligarchs and political elites who use gangs as a tool to advance their personal interests and power. They are for a rise in violence and horrific human rights abuses and wreaking havoc against a vulnerable population. I thank Ranking Member meeks who worked with chairman mccaul and bipartisan cosponsors to confront those predators. This bill ensures the secretary of state will impose sanctions on haitis and political elite responsible for mobilizing these gangs to carry out their dirty work, which has unleashed violence with no end in sight. The bill requires annual reports to congress on the ties between these gangs and political and economic elites in haiti. To help the haitian people restore democratic order, we must hold corrupt elites accountable. Prohibiting these criminals from traveling to and operating in the United States is an important step in that direction. I urge support for this bill and reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from kentucky reserves. The gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Meeks thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of h. R. 1684, the haitian the haiti criminal collusion Transparency Act of 2023 and i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized mr. Meeks it is no secret that haiti is in a dire situation. A crime report released this year indicated munitions being trafficked into haiti in a rapidly deteriorating security situation. This level of criminal activity is the craft of experienced, well connected individuals who long utilized cries sees and instability in haiti to gain economic control and increase their political speaker of atmosphere of influence. There are as many as 200 gangs in haiti that control 85 of portauprison. Gang violence has resulted in the killing of 1200 people of haiti in the first five months of the year alone. A gang murdered 69 people and injured another 83. Forcing authorities to abandon several police stations. Authorities believe the gang is responsible for killing of 14 Haitian NationalPolice Officers in late january as part of its ongoing violence. Political insecurity following the assassination has further declined the security situation. The Haitian National government last democratic elected official expired in january and new elections are postponed indefinitely. And while we continue to push for haitianled solution for these challenges, the United States must do what it can to not allow corrupt first to travel freely to the United States. And i am committed to holding corrupt officials accountable and prohibiting their travel to the United States and this legislation would help in those efforts. H. R. 1684 authorizes the secretary of state to sanction haitis political and economic elite who use gangs to leverage and maintain power. The bill ensures that congress receives regular reports on haitian Gang Activity and related criminality. The haitian people need to believe that their voices matter and that government exists to improve the equality of life, not make it more burdensome. We know these conditions are causing the rise in migration out of haiti as people seek freedom and safety at any cost. So, mr. Speaker, i believe we have a duty to make sure that we identify and hold accountable those who relish in the chaos those who support gang activities, using kidnapping and rape to control and silence communities and use coercion to bring portauprince into criminal activity. With that, mr. Speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new york reserves. The gentleman from kentucky. Mr. Barr i continue to reserve. Mr. Meeks i yield three minutes to the gentleman from virginia mr. Connolly. Mr. Connolly mr. Speaker, i rise in support of the haiti criminal collusion and Transparency Act introduced by my friend, the Ranking Member, Gregory Meeks of new york, to Place International pressure on elites in haiti who have ex as he ser baited and benefited from the widespread violence in that turbulent country. Nearly half of the countrys population, close to five million haitians face acute hunger today. Haitians face drastic fuel, food and medical equipment shortages. Cholera are widespread not far from our shore and gangs dominate the daily life through corruption, extortion and brutal violence. In fact the Haitian National police and haitian politicians are so compromised by gangs that lawlessness and instability are the new norm. Mr. Speaker, i thank representative meeks for keeping our attention on haiti. The situation is as he said, dire. And the only way we will stop helping root out corruption is to help. A little over a century ago, u. S. Soldiers landed on hitys shores following the assassination of the then haitian president. With the country once again destabilized following the assassination of another haitian president , its United States must work with allies and partners to give the haitian people a voice and to allow for them to take their country back from the gangs and instability rampant in haiti today. This time we must do so with an appreciation with our nations sordid history in haiti, mistakes we have made and how we can do better by the haitian people. We have a chance to redeem our own history. I thank the Ranking Member, mr. Meeks, for keeping our attention focused on haiti as it hub and bringing this important piece of legislation to the floor and i urge all of my colleagues to support it. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields. The gentleman from new york reserves. The gentleman from kentucky. Mr. Barr i continue to recrossexamination reserve i continue to reserve. Mr. Meeks i yield three minutes to the kosm from representative cherfilusmccormick. Mrs. Cherfilusmccormick as the only haitian american member in congress i introduced the act. This bill would require the secretary of state to submit an annual report on the political and economic elites in haiti and impose the necessary sanctions on partisan involved. On criminal gangs continued to wreak havoc spanning the flames and leading mr. To fear for their own safety. We have seen numerous accounts against children a. M. And women. They have gained strength without any accountability. The assassination of the president in 2021 added fuel to the fire by shining a light by these Violent Criminal Enterprises and levying economic sanctions we can better. The instability impacts us. Traveling to haiti is unsafe. Two of my constituents were kidnapped and held for ran some. I am grateful they made it home but no one should endure that. I will continue to support solutions that address the economic and Health Situation and i want to work on both sides of the aisle and once again i would like to thank our Ranking Member, representative meeks, and chairman mccaul for helping to push this forward. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Meeks i yield two minutes to the gentleman from from california. Ms. Kamlagerdove thank you to my Ranking Member, mr. Meeks and chairman mccaul and to you, mr. Speaker, i rise in support of h. R. 1684. This timely piece of legislation which i cosponsored calls attention to the humanitarian and security crisis just miles from our shores in haiti and despite reports of sexual violence, kidnappings, displacement and indiscriminate killings have swept the country the International Community has left haitians to fend for themselves again as usual. The last thing we should do is write off haitians struggles as hopeless and insurmountable. Haitians have a history of grit in struggles. This is a society born out of a fight for rights under colonialism and slavery. Haitians have confronted every unthinkable obstacle that has come their way and persevered against the odds. We must continue to support the haitian people with Concerted International Action and intentional policies like this bill. Im glad that this bill takes a strong step in Holding Accountable the economic and political elites who are perpetuating and benefiting from the countrys chronic insecurity. I know there are members on both sides of the aisle who are deeply invested in haitis future and represent haitian constituents. I work with some of them to introduce a resolution calling for a redoubling of diplomatic eaters to help achieve a solution to the current impasse. There is more we can do and theres more we must do, in a strong, bipartisan way. I urge my colleagues not to turn a blind eye to haiti, not to forget the haitian people, and to support this important legislation. Hey tee is our neighbor, hey tee deserves more. Haiti sour neighbor, haiti deserves more. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new york reserves. The gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Barr i reserve. The chair the gentleman from new york. Mr. Meeks i have no further speakers and im prepared to close. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new york is reck is recognized. Mr. Meeks thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, i introduced and marked up this bill with are bust bipartisan support. So i want to thank my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, chairman mccaul and chair of the subcommittee, chairwoman salazar, and of course my colleagues who just spoke, representative cherfilusmccormick and representative kamlagerdove. And others who worked in a bipartisan way to ensure that Congress Takes steps to address the crisis created by haitian gangs. Mr. Speaker, the people of hey tee deserve to know which organizations and individual support destabilizing criminal activity including those who take advantage of desperate people who are already extremely vulnerable. Trafficking them throughout the region and making gains at every stop along the way. Mr. Speaker, we cannot allow these elites, those who are paying the gangs, those who are incentivizing the gangs, to create and do horrific things just to keep walking without with impunity. Weve got to stand up and state that were going to point them out and sanction them. To give the people of haiti and opportunity to feel that their government and their country can move forward. We can no longer just talk about having elections without having the gangs wiped out. And away from haiti. Because they would control the elections. And so this sends a message to those elites, those who are financing the gangs, those who think they can continue their criminal activity. The United States is going to sanction you and you wont be able to cross the borders and go back and forth. This bill will require this bill requires the secretary of state to submit an annual report to Congress Regarding the ties between criminal gangs and political and economic elites in haiti and impose sanctioned on political and economic elites involved in such criminal activities. I have a lot of haitians in my district. They want some action, they want some relief, from the activities of those criminal gangs and the message that this bill sends and the followup with the administration will say that the United States house of representatives, in a very bipartisan fashion, working collectively together, will not allow you to continue your corrupt, criminal activities. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new york yields. The gentleman from kentucky is recognized. Mr. Barr mr. Speaker, whats going on in the nation of haiti is just a human tragedy and i again thank the gentleman from new york, mr. Meeks, for leading this bipartisan bill which, as he eloquently described, would require the secretary of state to submit an annual report to Congress Regarding the ties between criminal gangs and political and economic elites in haiti and thereby enable the secretary of state to identify and impose sangs on political and economic elites with links to criminal gangs and hopefully in that effort improve the conditions that the people of haiti are going through right now. And so this bill deserve ours support and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields. The question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h. R. 1684. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, 2 3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. For what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky seek recognition . Mr. Barr i move that the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h. R. 3203 as amended. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk h. R. 3203, a bill to impose sanctions with respect to chinese producers of synthetic opioids and opioid precursors to hold the chinese accountable for the spread of fentanyl and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from kentucky, mr. Barr, and the gentleman from virginia, mr. Connolly, each will control 20 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from kentucky. Mr. Barr i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this measure. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Barr i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Barr thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise in support of my legislation, the stop chinese fentanyl act that is currently before the house. The fentanyl crisis is one that is affecting families and communities across the United States. As of 2021, 70,601 americans died as a result of synthetic opioid overdoses. As of 2020, 82. 3 of all opioid involved overdoses were the result of synthetic opioids. Last year, almost 70 of all Drug Overdose deaths were caused by fentanyl. Over 100,000 americans, lives destroyed because of. This this is certainly impacted my home state, the commonwealth of kentucky. A recent Drug Overdose report from the Kentucky Office of drug control policy reported that there was a 14. 5 increase in Overdose Deaths in my home state. And according to cases autopsied by the Kentucky Office of the state of medical exerm and toxicology reports submitted by kentucky coroners coroners, the coroners, the rise was due to a rise in the use of fentanyl. Unfortunately, this scourge has spread with the help of our greatest strategic threat, the peoples republic of china and the Chinese Communist party. We know that china has historically been and remains the primary source of fentanyl in global circulation. Since the Trump Administration tightened controls on the shipment of fentanyl into the United States, the c. C. P. Has adjusted their practices and begun producing precursor chemicals and outsourcing final production to cartel laboratories in mexico. To then exploit our porous southern border and poison the American People. In 2020, u. S. Customs and Border Protection seized 4. 8,000 pounds of fentanyl, enough to kill over a billion people. Just a tiny little bit of this very deadly synthetic opioid is enough to kill. This figure more than tripled in just two years to 14. 7 thousand pounds in 2022 and in the first few months of 2023, customs and Border Protectioned seized 12. 5 thousand pounds. And much of this is originating from china, exploiting the cartels and exploiting our open southern border. We must attack the production of fentanyl at its source. By targeting the source of the precursors in china. My legislation places sanctions on