On March 25, Sen. Jacky Rosen hosted a roundtable discussion about the fentanyl crisis with the Reno police chief, Reno fire chief, and a local advocate and mother who tragically lost her daughter to an opioid overdose.
Last week, Rosen’s bipartisan END FENTANYL Act was signed into law, it will help crack down on drug smuggling by requiring the commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to update its drug interdiction guidance at least once every three years.
Many of the current CBP policies that outline drug interdiction practices are outdated and do not provide guidance on how to handle drugs like fentanyl.
“This is one more tool in the toolbox for our customs and border patrol agents to have the updated procedures, policies and guidelines that they rely on to stop illicit drugs from coming into this country. Those policies and procedures haven't been updated in nearly two decades,” Rosen said.
In addition to the END FENTANYL Act, Rosen voted in favor of passing the bipartisan border security deal to invest more than $20 billion dollars to secure the border and combat the fentanyl crisis.
Earlier that day, Rosen joined Rep. Mark Amodei and toured the Reno USPS processing and distribution center to see how the proposed downsizing and relocation of Reno’s mail processing operations to Sacramento would impact Nevadans.
Rosen and Amodei have opposed the proposed relocation because of the impact it would have on mail service reliability and local jobs.
“Anyone who's lived in northern Nevada for a while understands that the I-80 is the only way between here and Sacramento. And throughout the year, it's closed because of wildfires and snowstorms. We can't lose a processing center, that means we only have them in Las Vegas. That's not fair to our state,” Rosen said.
Having local mail processing operations remain in Reno is critical for the families that rely on the U.S. Postal Service for timely mail service, especially the seniors who receive medications or social security checks through the mail, Rosen said.
