Political Quotes

“I thank my colleague from Washington for yielding. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to voice my support for my amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. Our men and women in uniform are not immune from the epidemic of opioid addiction, an abuse that is ravaging our country. In fact, the National Institutes of Health reports opioid misuse are higher among servicemembers than among civilians, due to the use of these drugs to treat the symptoms of PTSD and chronic pain. Our brave servicemembers have earned our gratitude and deserve our highest quality of care. We need to do all we can to ensure our military doctors are equipped with the most up-to- date, best practices to help fight back against this disease. This amendment requires medical professionals in the Department of Defense that prescribe opioids for pain management to undertake 12 hours of training every 3 years in order to prevent overprescribing and better identify and treat abuse. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this commonsense amendment to ensure that our Active-Duty military get the medical care they truly deserve.”