House Democrats blocked a Republican motion Wednesday that would have extended the Drug Enforcement Agency’s (DEA) authority to combat the trafficking of fentanyl analogs.

Republicans offered a motion to block the previous question on the House floor. If the previous question was blocked, then the House could consider Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers’s (R-WA) legislation that would extend the DEA’s scheduling of fentanyl analogs for one more year.

If drug traffickers were to tweak the chemical formula for formula, which creates a fentanyl analog, it could create a drug 100 times more deadly than the dangerous fentanyl. Drug traffickers could easily change the chemical formula of fentanyl because fentanyl analogs were not prohibited. This loophole in DEA drug scheduling led the DEA to schedule fentanyl-related drugs in 2018 for two years.

In 2020, 137 House Democrats voted to extend the fentanyl analogs for one more year; 86 Democrats voted against the bill.

Today, 217 House Democrats voted to block the GOP motion. The scheduling of fentanyl analogs will end on May 6 now that Democrats blocked the Republican motion.

Fentanyl trafficking has reached crisis levels over the last year.

Fentanyl, which is mainly trafficked through America’s southern border. The seizure of fentanyl has increased by 233 percent since the first quarter of 2020.

Reps. Buddy Carter (R-GA) and Peter Meijer (R-MI) delivered House floor remarks discussing the need to extend the DEA’s scheduling of fentanyl analogs.

Carter said:

I am here today to ask my colleagues across the aisle to support the efforts outlined in H.R. 2430 to extend the emergency scheduling of fentanyl analogues. This is an opportunity for us to work together to help stem the flow of deadly fentanyl, and its analogues, into our country.

This is also an issue that impacts every one of us and the communities we call home. We all know someone who has been the victim of an addictive or illegal opioid. Just last week in my home state of Georgia, the Georgia Attorney General announced that he is investigating fatal drug overdoses blamed on counterfeit medications – medications laced with fentanyl.

These clusters of overdoses were spread across my state, and I know we aren’t alone. It continues to take the lives of our fellow Americans and more must be done to fight this. Fentanyl is an extremely dangerous substance – 3 milligrams is enough to be fatal. It is 50 times more potent than Heroin. First responders just touching or accidentally inhaling the substance can experience severe complications and possible death.

Meijer said:

With already limited border security resources being diverted to deal with the humanitarian crisis, drug smugglers are continuing their attempts to push dangerous substances, including fentanyl, into the United States. In the first quarter of 2021, the seizure of fentanyl at our southwestern border by CBP has increased by a staggering 233% from the first quarter of 2020.

At a time when our country is experiencing a border crisis and an opioid crisis, we need to be enacting policies that strengthen law enforcement and enhance public safety, instead of empowering bad actors who are continuing to put our communities at risk.

“If we fail to act on this commonsense extension before the existing May 6 deadline, we will be taking away a major tool that law enforcement needs to keep our communities safe,” he added.

Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.