The war on drugs was a flawed program and it simply didn't work.

We must learn from our mistakes.

Criminalization, simply put, is not an effective public safety policy.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and congratulations, Congressman Perlmutter. Ed, you and I have been friends for a long time, and I am looking forward to your chairmanship, and your common-sense approach to things, and hopefully, we can do a lot…

We need to listen to experts and the data to determine the right approaches to our evidence-based and data-driven.

We know that punishment does not work.

We have 40 years to show that we have not addressed that demand, and it is time to try something else instead of continuing the same failed policies.

The vicious and carceral drug war that has prioritized punishment over treatment, violence over healing, and trauma over dignity has influenced all our lives.

What I am taking away is maybe there is one thing that everybody across the dais here can agree on, and that is that addiction is a disease. It is a deadly disease.

I appreciate the gentleman from South Carolina, and I will remind him that if this bill becomes law, the 1 million seniors in his State will face a $7 billion cut over the next 10 years to Medicare. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the…

I appreciate the gentlewoman from Texas, and I will remind her that, while this legislation provides her State government with another $40 billion, it fails to include any language to ensure that the 5 million K-12 students in her State…

I appreciate the gentleman from California, and I will remind him that his State has 27 percent of the homeless population in the United States. But under this bill, the CBO projects that precisely zero dollars of the $5 billion will be…

This punitive approach creates more pain, increases substance use, and leaves millions of people to live in shame and isolation.

I appreciate the gentleman from New York, and I will remind him that, with passage of this bill, his State's 3 million seniors could see a cut to Medicare of $27 billion over the next 10 years. I would also like to remind Mr. Jeffries that…

I appreciate the gentlewoman from New York, and I would like to remind her that, in her home State, she has 16 percent--16 percent--of the country's homeless population in the United States; but under this bailout, the CBO projects that…

I appreciate the gentleman from Nevada. I will remind him that with this bill, if it is signed into law, his 500,000 seniors will face a $3 billion cut to Medicare. So his vote today will cost a $3 billion cut to the seniors of Nevada. Mr…

I just want to make sure. This Chamber may not have heard, but under the leadership of President Trump, in 2019, we hit the lowest poverty ever--lowest poverty. So thank you, President Trump. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

I came to Congress committed to one goal: To do the absolute most for everyone in St. Louis, starting with those who have the least.