Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) is putting the blame on Republicans for the millions of dollars in high-tech fentanyl scanners that have remained unused at the southern border, asking Congress to approve the funds needed to install them.
The drug scanning equipment has sat unused because Customs and Border Protection doesn’t have the $300 million needed to install them, CBP Commissioner Troy Miller told NBC News. In a letter sent Friday to the House and Senate appropriations committees, Tester said that the reason the agency doesn’t have the money is due to the Republicans who blocked the bipartisan border deal last month containing the funds for the scanning installation.
“These scanners allow Customs and Border Protection agents to scan vehicles and cargo in order to detect fentanyl and other dangerous contraband that criminals are trying to smuggle into our country,” Tester wrote.
In October, Republicans reportedly asked the Government Accountability Office to conduct a thorough investigation into the CBP’s use of the $1.9 billion the agency received to improve border screening in 2018 and why, with such a large sum of money, only 2% of vehicles were scanned.
Miller told the outlet that the CBP is scanning less than 5% of personal vehicles because it would delay trade and travel, but it hopes to be able to scan 40% of vehicles crossing the border before 2026.
The $118 billion border deal fell apart on the Senate floor last month after Republicans rejected the legislation, which included aid to Israel and Ukraine. Tester has since criticized the GOP for failing to support the deal that would have provided needed funds to the U.S.-Mexico border and called on the Biden administration last week to “use all of the remaining tools at your disposal” to help remedy the border crisis.
Tester has been a staunch supporter of finding solutions to the fentanyl problem in his own state. Last month, the senator co-sponsored the FEND Off Fentanyl Act, a bipartisan bill that would crack down on fentanyl smuggling and target fentanyl supply chains in an effort to keep the deadly opioid off the streets.
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In 2022, 202 Montana residents died from drug overdoses, of which 113 were opioid-related, with 95 involving fentanyl, according to Montana’s Department of Public Health and Human Services.
Tester is one of the most vulnerable Democrats up for reelection this year. While the senator has done well among independents in the past, holding tough stances on issues such as fentanyl and the border crisis could help him appeal more to Republicans in the red state.