Kathy Castor: “This is the final amendment to the bill. It will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill…”

“This is the final amendment to the bill. It will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to passage, as amended. Mr. Speaker, the House has been debating legislation to combat the opioid epidemic. While many of the bills we heard last week and this week are fine, together they fail to meet the challenge of this very serious public health crisis where in America today, we are losing about 40,000 lives a year due to opioid addiction. Now, in the Energy and Commerce Committee over the past few months, we have had numerous hearings and heard from all sorts of experts and families and the DEA and health providers. And then back home, families have been educating us on the challenges of dealing with opioid addiction. Families and public health experts and the medical community, they have reached a consensus that we need a more comprehensive approach to tackle the opioid epidemic that includes prevention, community-based treatment, and integrated recovery plans. But it is very difficult for us to be proactive in a meaningful way on the opioid crisis when the Republicans and the White House continue to press us backwards when it comes to access to affordable healthcare. Just last week, the Trump administration launched a new attack on Americans with preexisting conditions, and that includes families struggling with opioid addiction.…”