Kaine Statement on Trump Administration Illegally Withholding $140 Million in Federal Funding to Address Fentanyl Crisis

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, released the following statement regarding the Trump Administration’s illegal withholding of $140 million in federal funding passed by Congress to support fentanyl overdose response efforts:

“I’m relieved that thanks to steps we took during the Biden Administration—including the passage of my Disrupt Fentanyl Trafficking Act—that fentanyl overdose deaths in Virginia have declined significantly. But one overdose death is too many, and it’s inexplicable that the Trump Administration is illegally withholding $140 million in federal funding to build on our progress and better protect communities from fentanyl. The fact that this news is being reported immediately after President Trump signed into law massive tax cuts for billionaires—paid for with cuts to programs working families rely on—makes it crystal clear who this Administration values. I’ll be doing all that I can to encourage my Republican colleagues to join me in raising hell about this decision to hamstring our efforts to address the fentanyl crisis.”

Kaine has long advocated for more resources to combat the fentanyl crisis. Kaine introduced and Congress passed the bipartisan Disrupt Fentanyl Trafficking Act to direct increased federal attention to fentanyl trafficking by declaring fentanyl trafficking a national security threat, utilizing Pentagon resources like counter-drug intelligence, and involving Mexico as an active partner to combat the crisis. Kaine also helped pass a supplemental national security funding package that included the FEND Off Fentanyl Act, bipartisan legislation cosponsored by Kaine, to require the President to sanction drug rings involved in international drug trafficking. In July 2024, Kaine traveled to Brownsville and McAllen, Texas to discuss fentanyl interdiction at the southern border with various law enforcement agencies and international partners from Mexico. In March 2024, Kaine also introduced the bipartisan Strengthening Tracking Of Poisonous Tranq Requiring Analyzed National Quantification Act, or the STOP TRANQ Act to require the State Department to include reporting on xylazine, or “tranq,” in its annual International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR). In February, Kaine introduced the bipartisan, bicameral Combating Illicit Xylazine Act, which would list xylazine as a Schedule III controlled substance while protecting the drug’s legal use by veterinarians, farmers, and ranchers.

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