As fentanyl overdose deaths fall to levels not seen since 2019, Republicans in both the executive and legislative branches say they intend to push those numbers even lower.
State-level data reinforces the trend. In Pennsylvania, a state with a higher average rate of overdose deaths than most states, overdose deaths dropped by 60% in 2025, a decline Republicans attribute to President Donald Trump’s aggressive counter-narcotics enforcement.
Executive Moves
U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently announced that in 2026 alone, agents along the southwest border have seized enough fentanyl to kill more than 100 million Americans—despite having worked without pay for 76 days.
The seizures follow a series of actions by the Trump administration to escalate its response to the crisis. The president designated drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and classified fentanyl and its precursor chemicals as weapons of mass destruction.
Those designations expanded federal authority to target the manufacture and distribution of fentanyl, which officials say is largely controlled by organized criminal networks and poses a growing national security threat.
“As President of the United States, my highest duty is the defense of the country and its citizens,” Trump wrote at the time. “Accordingly, I hereby designate illicit fentanyl and its core precursor chemicals as Weapons of Mass Destruction.”
In the months that followed, the administration authorized military operations to use lethal force against suspected drug trafficking vessels attempting to enter U.S. waters.
In January 2026, the Senate confirmed Sara Carter to serve as director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Since taking office, Carter has focused on countering the flow of illicit fentanyl while warning Americans about emerging drug threats, including substances tied to the broader opioid epidemic.
“History does not remember the crises we prevent. We rely on the Emerging Threats Committee to serve as the guardian angels of the American people, standing vigilant against emerging and still unknown drug threats,” Carter wrote in a press release shared last week with The Daily Signal.
“As part of our Strategy, ONDCP has already begun issuing drug threat notices on new and re-emerging deadly drugs entering the illicit drug supply, including medetomidine and cychlorphine, in an effort to warn the American people about these dangers,” she added, saying the goal is “to save American lives.”
Congressional Support
On Capitol Hill, Republicans have sought to cut off the financial networks fueling the fentanyl trade.
Sen. Tim Scott, now chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, led passage of the bipartisan FEND Off Fentanyl Act in 2024. The law directs the Treasury Department to use economic tools to target Chinese precursor manufacturers and Mexican cartels.
Using those authorities, the department in June 2025 identified three Mexico-based financial institutions—CIBanco, Intercam, and Vector—as primary money laundering concerns tied to illicit opioid trafficking.
House Republicans say additional legislation is needed.
“Fentanyl does not move without money,” Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., told The Daily Signal. “Every dollar laundered through Chinese banks, cartels, and shell companies is another dollar funding poison in American communities.”
Ogles introduced the Stop Fentanyl Money Laundering Act of 2025, though the bill has yet to advance out of the House Financial Services Committee.
“My bill goes after the financial lifeblood of the fentanyl trade by giving law enforcement the tools to sanction, expose, and cripple the networks profiting off American deaths,” Ogles said. “Congress can either keep talking about the fentanyl crisis or finally cut off the money that fuels it.”
Despite that setback, House Republicans say recent laws have strengthened enforcement efforts.
Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., pointed to the HALT Fentanyl Act, signed into law in January 2025, as helping streamline drug seizures.
“The HALT Fentanyl Act allows our law enforcement to enforce measures to seize fentanyl-related substances and do rigorous research into these lethal illicit substances,” Griffith told The Daily Signal.
“In light of this latest seizure, it shows that U.S. law enforcement no longer has to conduct multiple tests to determine whether a substance is a fentanyl analogue or illicit fentanyl,” he added. “Now, they can seize the illicit product with prompt action.”
Other lawmakers are pushing for harsher penalties. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, has introduced legislation that would allow the death penalty for convicted fentanyl traffickers, including those who distribute fentanyl-laced drugs.
“Fentanyl continues to take an enormous toll on communities across the country,” Roy told The Daily Signal. “Those who traffic this poison should be held fully accountable for the devastation they cause.”
“The Deal Death, Face Death Act is designed to strengthen prosecutors’ ability to pursue the most severe penalties against traffickers who profit from lethal narcotics,” he added.
Roy called on lawmakers to act decisively.
“Lawmakers should stand with the families affected by this epidemic and make clear that those responsible for spreading deadly drugs will face the strongest consequences under the law,” he said.
