Republican members of Congress lashed out at President Biden during his State of the Union address Tuesday night after he commented on the case of a 20-year-old girl killed by a fentanyl overdose.
“It’s your fault!” one Congress member could be heard yelling from the GOP side of the aisle after the 80-year-old president noted that thousands of Americans are being killed every year by the deadly drug — which many blame his administration for letting slip through the southern border.
Biden was nearing the end of his remarks spotlighting White House guest Doug Griffin, who lost his daughter, Courtney, in 2014 to a fentanyl overdose, when the chaos erupted.
“[Doug] told us he wants to ‘start the journey towards America’s recovery.’ Doug, we’re with you,” Biden said, adding, “Fentanyl is killing more than 70,000 Americans a year.”
Several Republicans, clearly incensed over Biden’s earlier claim that “a record number of personnel” at the border have seized “over 23,000 pounds of fentanyl in just the last several months,” shouted, “border,” at the president, leading him to pause.
One Republican was heard yelling, “It came from China,” one of the top exporters of the deadly synthetic opioid.
The president, who only made fleeting references to China during his speech, did not mention China’s role in the US opioid epidemic at all during his address.
Biden, oddly, reacted to the cry of “It’s your fault!” with a toothy grin.
A GOP lawmaker calculated on Tuesday that enough fentanyl has been seized at US borders in just the last three months to kill over a billion people.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) cited Customs and Border Patrol figures during a congressional hearing on the border crisis Tuesday that show some 9,400 lbs of the synthetic drug has been stopped from entering the country since October.
“That’s enough fentanyl to kill every American five times over,” Burchett pointed out.
Fentanyl is 50 times more powerful than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine.
It is increasingly being used by drug dealers in the production of counterfeit prescription pills.
“Let’s launch a major surge to stop fentanyl production, sale, and trafficking, with more drug detection machines to inspect cargo and stop pills and powder at the border,” Biden continued saying in his address after the interruption.
“Working with couriers like Fed Ex to inspect more packages for drugs. Strong penalties to crack down on fentanyl trafficking,” he added.
After his speech, firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) called Biden “the Mexican cartel’s best business partner.”
“And their business is murdering Americans with Chinese-made fentanyl,” Taylor Greene added.