'I Didn't Fully Hear An Answer To My Question': Tim Scott Confronts Biden Admin Over Fentanyl Policy

secretary Rosenberg I've noted with some interests the executive branches surged its economic statecraft tools to hold Russia accountable for its unjust war in Ukraine the last few months we've sanctioned hundreds if not thousands of Russian entities responsible for perpetuating the war in Ukraine not only were we able to identify these obscure targets but we were also able to coordinate these actions as you just talked about a multilateral approach with our International Partners in Europe this to me seems like a testament to the U.S government and and the dominance that we can provide to the marketplace when we focus our attention on said Target the NIH reported that in 2021 we saw more than 70 000 Americans lose their lives of fentanyl so my question is as we think about the weight I did an interview this morning and talked about the individual loss of life but we think so often about the 70 000 people have lost their lives to Fentanyl and sometimes the number itself is so overwhelming that we forget to personalize it not think about my friend in Charleston South Carolina Dr Alan Chao whose son Alan Shaw the second 27 years old lost his life to fentanyl just two months ago now think about the tools that we may have at our disposal that could disrupt some of the cartels and to think about and perhaps it's easier to go to the front line the top of the food chain but but the middle level folks seem to need to be targeted as well what from your Vantage Point uh overseeing tffc what is possible for us to to do and to use more of the tools to disrupt the financials of not only the top of these cartels but the mid-level as well is is there more that we can do in that area and if so how do we get there thank you senator for the question I very much appreciate the approach that you've just noted not just of identifying the individuals who are the leaders of particular cartels or networks to move drugs and to move money but also all of the individuals who work as uh the front line if you will for bundling money for packaging materials and equipment and of course the illicit drugs themselves we've found that it's essential to be able to identify and expose and of course designate with sanctions the front companies the money how the exchange houses or Money Services businesses the other kinds of businesses that function as fronts in order to launder this money and move the goods and services furthermore being able to explain through the use of typologies or those red flag indicators to other financial institutions or businesses that might come in contact with them the challenges and the risks involved so that they can avoid them is essential to this work of exposing and disrupting so just to put a fine point on it I I heard what you said I didn't fully hear an answer to my question however what else can we do from your perspective to to use the tools that we have at our disposal to disrupt the the flow of cash to these cartels is there more that we can do from your perspective uh certainly I think we have started targeting some of the heads and certainly think about the fact that we have 45 co-sponsors of my legislation on finnoff fentanyl to get a Democrats and Republicans 22-22 on each side to do something together is like Peter walking on the water these days right it's almost a miracle so the question is is more legislation like that helpful harmful do you need more tools was that you I appreciate the question in addition to what I noted there's something else I want to mention here as far as what we can do what we can do additionally yes and that is two things one is to work expand our relationships with foreign Partners specifically Mexico which is something that was featured in the sanctions designation yesterday it called out our partnership with Mexican law enforcement officials which is a way that we can do an even better and more thorough job of getting at money movements and Drug movements that Traverse several different countries which is so often the case when we have Chinese precursor chemicals moving through Mexico into the United States one thing that's very significant and that I warmly welcome from the legislation for which you are a co-sponsor is the expansion of the statute of limitations on enforcement against ayiba crimes to eight years from five respectfully I would request that this be expended even further to 10 years which would allow us additional significant benefit in compliance and deterrence great legislation that I'm sponsoring that's good to hear and if I get another round I'm out of time yeah I can get a quick question for you secretary Rosen one of the things I've spent some time on is trying to figure out how to disconnect Tick Tock from having surveillance opportunities of our kids and one of the ways that we try to do that is in legislation that we've worked on call know your app act which is a forward-looking solution to ensure Americans are empowered to decide for themselves how to best protect their data and their security from your Viewpoint as assistant secretary for investment security do you think providing users with the country of origin on their application of their application is a useful consumer protection measure thank you for that question um Senator and I certainly share the concern emanating in the legislation more information on these topics for parents and also just general transparency is very important particularly when you're talking about countries of concern and particularly when you're talking about countries of concern with laws on the books that see no line between being able to access and manipulate that data so I'm certainly certainly willing to work with you on that and understand those issues and well that's pointing not for not a question but I'll have a question for the record on on cypheus and how we can look back and and track the progress has been made over the last couple years and or the impediments to progress from your perspective as relates to using that very important tool to perhaps put a Target on the backs of folks that we think we need to thank you so senator

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Length: 6min 26sec (386 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 03 2023