The defense spending bill includes the FEND OFF Fentanyl Act, which would require the Treasury Department to sanction individual cartel members involved in drug trafficking and to seize their assets. Sinema said it would hit the cartels where they feel it most, financially.
Rafael Carranza
Arizona Republic
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema said Monday she aims to pass legislation this week that would go after Mexican drug cartel pocketbooks, increase pay for border agents and officers, and to pressure social media companies to do more to protect teens recruited by cartels on their platforms.
Sinema, I-Ariz., who chairs the Homeland Security subcommittee on border management, said she’s working to include several of those border management priorities as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, a growing spending bill that the Senate is set to debate this week.
The House’s version passed earlier this month, mostly along party lines, after the Republican House majority included several amendments on controversial social issues such as abortion. Once the Senate passes its version, the two chambers will have to reconcile the differences in the bills before a final version moves to the president’s desk.
Sinema said she expected the Senate to pass its bill by the end of this week.
“The good news is last week I was able to negotiate what’s called a minibus package for all of our Homeland Security bills,” she said. “We’ve got that package ready to go. We’re still working on some of the other equities amongst different senators, I expect that that will continue through all of Wednesday.”
Already, the defense spending bill includes the FEND OFF Fentanyl Act, which would require the Treasury Department to sanction individual cartel members involved in drug trafficking and to seize their assets. Sinema said it would hit the cartels where they feel it most, financially.
