U.S. Senate lawmakers on Tuesday added legislation targeting transnational criminal organizations trafficking fentanyl into American communities to their version of the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina introduced the “Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence Off Fentanyl Act,” a standalone anti-fentanyl trafficking legislation aimed toward the financial assets of several major Mexican Cartel organizations involved with synthetic opioid traffickers and suppliers.

“Mexican traffickers and Chinese drug suppliers are fueling America’s fentanyl crisis,” Scott told The Daily Wire in a statement.

According to the bill, U.S. government agencies could enhance current laws to disrupt illicit opioid supply chains and penalize those facilitating the trafficking of fentanyl. The bill would also aim to hold accountable imposed sanctions on the illicit drug trade and on those who profit from the transactions through money laundering schemes.

Fentanyl overdoses have become the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18-45 in the last few years, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

More than 107,000 Americans died in 2021 from violence and drug overdoses tied to two major Mexican drug cartels — the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation criminal organizations, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram told Republican members of a House Appropriations Committee panel during a budget hearing earlier this year.

Nearly 65% of overdose deaths were caused by fentanyl.

Milgram called both organizations “the greatest drug threat this country has ever faced.”

“The drug cartels responsible for bringing fentanyl into this country are ruthless and extremely violent criminal enterprises,” Milgram said. “They rely on a global supply chain to manufacture and distribute fentanyl, and they rely on a global illicit financial network to pocket billions of dollars.”

DEA officials mapped out the multi-faceted fentanyl crisis three years ago as the flow of the deadly opioid became more diverse compared to its start in 2014. According to the agency, Mexico and China are the primary sources, along with India, for fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances trafficked directly into the United States.

DEA officials seized over 379 million deadly doses of fentanyl last year, enough to supply a lethal dose to every American.

“Given the sharp increase in fentanyl-caused deaths, it is clear that a staggering amount of fentanyl is making its way into our country from the chemical suppliers in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and drug cartels in Mexico,” Scott’s new release said.

“By including this bill in the NDAA, we’re one step closer to ensuring our country can defend our communities from this deadly drug and protecting our national security,” he added.

U.S. Senators are set to vote on the defense policy bill this week, which has amassed at least 62 Senate cosponsors since lawmakers first introduced the legislation in April.

The GOP-led House passed its version of the annual NDAA on Thursday with key conservative provisions that face long odds in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

House lawmakers passed the bill along partisan lines in a 219-210 vote, which included amendments that prohibited funding Pentagon funding for travel for women seeking abortions and paying for transgender procedures on military service members.

Leif Le Mahieu contributed to this report.

The White House acknowledged that UFOs flying around training ranges have made an “impact” on pilots, fueling a desire to “get to the bottom of it.”

John Kirby, the coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council, made the comments on Monday in response to a reporter who asked about UAP (unidentified anomalous phenomena) transparency.

“Some of these phenomena, we know, have already had an impact on our training ranges for — you know, when pilots are out trying to do training in the air and they see these things, they’re not sure what they are, and it can have an impact on their ability to perfect their skills,” Kirby said.

White House National Security Council Coordinator, Admiral John Kirby was asked about Senator Schumer’s UAP legislation. 💥

-White House takes it seriously

“Some of these phenomena we know have already had an impact on our training ranges.” pic.twitter.com/CNeJ8Efj6z

— UAP News (@HighPeaks77) July 17, 2023

“Now, we’re not saying what they are or what they’re not,” Kirby also said. “We’re saying that there’s something our pilots are seeing. We’re saying it has had an effect on some of our training operations. And so, we want to get to the bottom of it. We want to understand it better.”

Indeed, Navy pilots have come forward in recent years with claims that they witnessed mysterious flying objects that appear to defy the laws of physics while participating in training exercises, which led to the release of videos of some encounters and the drafting of new guidelines for reporting UFOs.

The Department of Defense (DoD) later set up the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), which has been tasked with investigating UFOs, and there has been a push by lawmakers for legislation to encourage more disclosures.

The level of interest in UFOs on Capitol Hill has risen following the public emergence of David Grusch, a U.S. military and intelligence veteran who shared allegations about crafts of non-human origin being retrieved and kept from Congress.

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In response to the claims, the DoD said the AARO team has “not discovered any verifiable information to substantiate claims that any programs regarding the possession or reverse-engineering of any extraterrestrial materials have existed in the past or exist currently.”

The House Oversight Committee is set to hold a hearing on UAPs on Wednesday, July 26, according to Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN). “We’re done with the cover-ups,” he said in a tweet on Monday.

Kirby, a retired Navy rear admiral, would not comment directly on the reliability of individual whistleblowers, but he did stress that setting up AARO shows the government is taking the matter “seriously.” He also said, “We will always want to be as transparent with members of Congress and with the American people as we can, considering national security concerns.”

Journalist Ross Coulthart, who interviewed Grusch for NewsNation, took Kirby’s comments about UAPs as a sign of growing urgency in Washington.

“So finally, [the president’s]’ National Security Council spokesman John Kirby makes it clear to the White House press Corp that they are indeed now taking the #UAP mystery very seriously,” Coulthart said in a tweet. “No more ridicule or giggling. Big Q: will legacy media now investigate the new acknowledged reality?”