Political Quotes

“I am delighted to join my colleague from Connecticut (Ms. Esty) in supporting this motion to instruct because this is an issue that deserves not just the attention and the focus of the House, but it deserves a meaningful commitment of resources to address the problem that is plaguing every town and city in Connecticut and in this country. Mr. Speaker, this year we will see 30,000 fatalities to this opioid crisis. In the 20 years of the Vietnam war, from 1955 to 1975, this Nation suffered just shy of 60,000 fatalities in the entire Vietnam war. In 2 years, the opioid crisis will claim more Americans than died in the Vietnam war; yet, we this week--and I salute the majority for acting on the opioid crisis--decided to make roughly $106 million available to this scourge. For those watching at home, we didn't actually make that money available. In Congress, we authorize--which says, legally, you can spend the money--and we appropriate. Appropriate is actually when we take out the checkbook and write the check. And just to be clear for the American people, we authorized, but we did not appropriate. So, again, I salute the majority and I salute the bipartisan tenor that we have had this week in addressing this very, very serious problem through so many bills, but now is the time to actually put our money where our mouths are. The reason for this is the number I gave you earlier: 30,000 Americans every single year.…”