Senators Find Rare Agreement in Cracking Down on Fentanyl

Senate Democrats helped Republicans score another legislative win by backing a bill to crack down on fentanyl — showcasing, again, the Democrats’ effort to reshape their public image.

The chamber voted 84-16 on Friday to pass legislation (S. 331; BGOV Bill Analysis) to permanently list fentanyl-related substances on Schedule I, which empowers law enforcement and could lead to harsher sentences for traffickers. The legislation heads to the House, which passed its own bill (H.R. 27) in February.

Republicans, who criticized Democrats for not passing the fentanyl measure in the last Congress, have viewed cracking down on drug trafficking and immigration at the border as key priorities that helped them win the White House and control of both the House and Senate in the 2024 election.

Democrats have now helped Republicans get 60 votes to overcome a filibuster on several key pieces of legislation that in the past most of the party would have opposed. A similar dynamic played out early in the Congress when enough Democrats sided with the GOP to move an immigration bill (Public Law 119-1) aimed at cracking down on criminal migrants. It reflects wide concern among Senate Democrats that they must do more to attract voters beyond their base.

“This is bipartisan because frankly, fentanyl is a bipartisan problem,” said Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who led on the fentanyl bill. He said ahead of the vote that senators who don’t vote for it would be turning a blind eye to the tens of thousands dying each year.

Democratic senators from border and swing states, who cosponsored the bill and face political pressure on issues like this one, said they need to support it because it’s killing many of their constituents.

“The public thinks we fight about everything,” Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who caucuses with Democrats, said. “But there are a number of things around here that are done on a bipartisan basis, and this, so far, is one of them.”

Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said the bill aligns with Trump, who is trying to use the threat of tariffs on other nations to get them to crack down on fentanyl flowing into the US.

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Some Democrats and advocates have worried that the legislation would exacerbate mass incarcerations, rely too heavily on law enforcement and wouldn’t solve the problem, but the majority of Democrats voted with Republicans to pass the bill. Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said he would support the bill, though he noted the GOP killed efforts to make it stronger.

The passage of the bill reveals more about where Democrats are willing to bend versus what they have been united on in the opening weeks of the Congress. So far, Democrats have held their caucus together to block measures around transgender athletes, abortion, and sanctioning the International Criminal Court.

“The outcome in the 2024 presidential election was partially a rebuke of far-left dogmas and ideologies,” Thune said this week about the bills that Democrats have filibustered. “But apparently Democrats have learned nothing from that electoral rebuke.”

However, Democrats view fentanyl legislation as an area where they can work with Republicans. Several bipartisan pairs of senators have also pitched additional fentanyl legislation in the last week.

Sens. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Jim Banks (R-Ind.) introduced a bill (S. 921) that would direct the Department of Health and Human Services to give hospitals guidance on incorporating fentanyl testing into drug screenings at emergency rooms.

Sens. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), their parties’ leaders on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, proposed legislation (S. 860) that would crack down on the import of fentanyl flowing from China, to Mexico, and then the US.

“We must use every tool at our disposal to cut off the flow of fentanyl, which has caused a devastating crisis in communities across New Hampshire and the country,” said Shaheen.