Dr. Joyce: Lives Are Depending on Our Work to End the Biden Border Crisis

Washington, DC Congressman John Joyce M.D. (PA-13) today condemned the Biden Administration's failure to contain the rampant crisis on our nation's southern border.

"The illicit fentanyl that is made in China or elsewhere and then crosses the porous southern border winds up on our streets in Pennsylvania, spurring addiction, tearing apart families, destroying the workforce, and worst of all killing our friends and neighbors,"said Dr. Joyce."As my friend and Franklin County Coroner Jeff Conner told me recently, ?Fentanyl is easy to get and fast to kill.' This is true in Pennsylvania and across the country."

On the House Floor, Dr. Joyce addressed the increased rate of fentanyl entering our nation, highlighting that more than 900 pounds of the deadly drug was intercepted by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) during the month of May.

Dr. Joyce called on the Biden Administration to address the crisis on our southern border and enact real reforms to stop the flow of drugs into Pennsylvania communities.

Watch the speech here and read his full remarks below.

Nearly one hundred days after being appointed as the Biden Administration's border czar, Vice President Harris FINALLY visited the southern border at the end of last week. It was 800 miles away from the crux of the problem but I suppose it's a start.

Clearly, the Biden-Harris Administration knows that it is facing a crisis. To them, this is a PR crisis. To the American people, the Biden Border Crisis is real.

As I have said time and time again, the illicit fentanyl that is made in China or elsewhere and then crosses the porous southern border winds up on our streets in Pennsylvania, spurring addiction, tearing apart families, destroying the workforce, and worst of all killing our friends and neighbors.

Last month alone, U.S. Customs and Border Protection intercepted more than 900 pounds of fentanyl. Nine hundred pounds. In fact, border agents have seized more fentanyl at the border so far this year than in all of last year.

As my friend and Franklin County Coroner Jeff Conner told me recently, "Fentanyl is easy to get and fast to kill." This is true in Pennsylvania and across the country. Can you imagine what 900 pounds of fentanyl means for American communities? What it means for families?

The chaos on the southern border is absolutely a crisis for the first responders, law enforcement, health care providers, and community leaders on the front lines of the drug epidemic in our communities.

Every day, I hear from Pennsylvanians who have experienced the ramifications of this crisis firsthand, and for them this is a stark reality.

Vice President Harris says that the Biden Administration is making progress on this crisis. If that's the case, what is the president's definition of progress?

Does the president believe that his administration is making progress on the Biden Economic Crisis, as inflation spirals out of control and hardworking families bear the cost?

Does the president believe that his administration is making progress on the Biden Crime Crisis, as violent crime skyrockets in liberal cities across the country and our brave law enforcement officers face unprecedented opposition?

If this is President Biden's idea of progress, we must demand better. Once again, I stand ready to work with the president and my colleagues on commonsense reforms to restore law and order and end his administration's border crisis.

We must demand real progress.

Lives are depending on our work. All of America is depending on our work.

Thank you, and I yield.

###