Congress tells DHS to measure how much drugs it stops.
H.R. 8535 — Measuring Illicit Fentanyl Trafficking Act · Filed by James Walkinshaw (D-VA) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced Apr 27, 2026 · Passed chamber
Your members of Congress
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What it does
The bill requires the Department of Homeland Security to set measurable targets. The targets cover finding, stopping, and seizing the drug. DHS parts must share facts with each other about drug work. The bill also tells DHS to find what stops sharing. The goal is to make drug efforts work better together.
Who it affects
The Department of Homeland Security must create and track these targets. Better work together may lead to more drug seizures.
One thing to notice
The bill requires DHS to measure drug seizures. It does not say how DHS should work or what targets should be.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 2 Republicans, 1 Democrats.
- Apr 27, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Apr 27, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Homeland Security and Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Homeland Security”
- Jun 24, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Jun 24, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 30 - 0”
- Jul 13, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H4398)”
- Jul 13, 2026 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Garbarino moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- Department of Homeland Security — the federal agency that protects the country's borders and handles security
- measurable targets — goals that can be counted and tracked to show how well something works
- drug work — efforts to stop and seize drugs before they reach people
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,198 characters) on Jul 9, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,522 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-21.
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