The US House Energy and Commerce Committee marked up nine bills on 21 July, each aimed at some part of the same problem: an illicit drug supply that keeps shifting faster than the laws built to control it. The package amounts to the broadest overdose prevention legislation the committee has advanced in one sitting in years. All nine passed committee and now head to the House floor, with several clearing by unanimous or near-unanimous votes, a rare show of bipartisan agreement in a Congress that agrees on little else.

Xylazine and nitazenes head toward permanent scheduling

Two of the bills go straight after the substances driving recent overdose spikes. The Combating Illicit Xylazine Act, led by Congressman August Pfluger and Congressman Jimmy Panetta, would permanently place xylazine, a veterinary sedative with no approved human use that has spread through the illicit opioid supply in recent years, into Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act. The bill also amends the legal definition of “ultimate user” so xylazine can still be lawfully administered for genuine veterinary purposes, closing the loophole without disrupting legitimate animal medicine. It passed committee 48 to 0.

The STOP Nitazenes Act, led by Congressman Bob Latta, takes the harder line of the two, placing the nitazene class of synthetic opioids permanently into Schedule I, the most restrictive tier under federal law. Nitazenes are potent synthetic opioids that have turned up as an emerging contaminant alongside fentanyl. This bill passed by a narrower 28 to 21 vote, the only one of the nine without broad bipartisan support.

Pill presses face serial numbers and prison time

A separate cluster of bills goes after the hardware used to manufacture counterfeit pills rather than the drugs themselves. The Stop Pills That Kill Act, led by Congressman Gabe Evans, folds in two related bills through an amendment: the PRESS Act, led by Congressman Addison McDowell, which would make it unlawful to manufacture, distribute, or import pill press equipment with intent to produce a controlled substance illegally, and the Fight Illicit Pill Presses Act, led by Congresswoman Harriet Hageman and Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury, which requires serial numbers on pill presses and punches and bans tampering with or removing them. The combined bill also sets sentencing penalties for producing fentanyl, fentanyl analogues, or counterfeit pills, and directs the DEA to build a comprehensive plan for addressing counterfeit substances. It passed 43 to 6.

Hospitals, first responders and schools get new tools

The remaining bills focus less on the supply and more on the systems meant to catch an overdose before it becomes fatal, the other half of what this overdose prevention legislation is trying to achieve. Tyler’s Law, led by Congressman Bob Latta and Congressman Ted Lieu, directs the Department of Health and Human Services to issue guidance on whether hospital emergency departments should routinely test overdose patients for fentanyl. It passed 46 to 0.

The ALERT Communities Act, led by Congressman Lance Gooden and Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, allows first responder training grants to fund training on fentanyl and xylazine test strips, and directs HHS to publish research on the technology and report to Congress on how effective test strip interventions actually are. It passed 48 to 0.

The HERO Act, led by Congressman Raul Ruiz, sets up a competitive grant programme to help schools obtain opioid overdose reversal medication. It also passed 48 to 0.

Seven bills, zero dissenting votes

All nine bills now move to the full House floor, where the wider chamber will need to take them up before any become law. The scale of bipartisan support at committee stage, seven of the nine bills passed without a single dissenting vote, suggests this overdose prevention legislation has a real chance of clearing the House relatively intact, though the Senate has yet to weigh in on any of it.

Taken together, the bills reflect a Congress trying to legislate against a drug supply that has outpaced it for years: xylazine spreading largely unregulated for half a decade before this bill, nitazenes emerging as a threat serious enough to warrant the strictest scheduling available, and pill presses churning out counterfeit fentanyl pills with equipment that, until now, carried few restrictions on how it changed hands.

Source

DB Recovery Resources, Legislation to address addiction (24 July 2026): https://www.dbrecoveryresources.com/2026/07/legislation-to-address-addiction/

Addiction Policy Forum, House Energy and Commerce Committee Advances Legislation to Address Addiction and Overdose Prevention (22 July 2026).