Hal Rogers

I thank the chairman for yielding the time. Mr. Chair, I rise tonight to support this first bill of the 2017 appropriations cycle. Shepherding through appropriations legislation is the constitutional duty of the Congress, and so here we…

I insist on my point of order. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will state his point of order.

I thank the chairman and congratulate him on a great bill. When the abuse of prescription medications silently took hold of rural towns in Appalachia over a decade ago, we knew we had to do something to curb the rising tide of addiction…

We fought for years... to get the pharmaceutical companies to develop abuse-deterrent formulations.

We need a holistic, multipronged approach to the epidemic that CDC says we have.

Doctors should avoid using powerful opioids as the first line of defense against pain, saying the risks from such drugs far outweigh the benefits for most people.

Some of our colleagues thinking that they were being tough on administrative costs, so we were shortsighted.

It is unconscionable that, if true, the Bureau is not demanding full accountability from the inspection program because one of the most basic elements of children's safety is to be in a school facility that is safe.

We have to fund our role in that process.

Well, the truth is that power plants cannot possibly physically do what you would require, so they have no choice but to switch to something else. It is impossible, physically impossible, for them to meet your requirements.

I was appalled to learn that the Bureau of Indian Education is failing to conduct safety and health inspections for all of its schools.

When Congress passed the RESTORE Act, they said that the money cannot be used for administration.

But can you imagine what it must be like for that miner, that father with small children, formerly making $70,000, $80,000, all of a sudden trying to find a job at McDonald's, unsuccessfully, at minimum wage with small children, car…

There is no question that the Clean Power Plan will fundamentally alter the energy economy in this country and put thousands of hardworking men and women who are employed in the coal industry out of work.

One of the big ones being the resiliency challenges facing the coastal tribes in the region I represent...

There are over 10,000 miners in my district who found themselves unemployed as a result of your keep it in the ground strategy when it comes to coal.

I do support the President's budget. Some of the initiatives that the President has proposed, well, I think the chairman is correct that they are not likely to see the light of day.

I am equally confident that the bow wave of procurement that I alluded to in my opening remarks...

I am disappointed that the important goals that we share for your department are undermined, frankly, by what I consider a partisan nature of that request.

I am pleased that the President's budget recognizes the scope of opioid abuse in America and prioritizes treatment for those suffering from addiction.

It is simply disingenuous.

I am very disappointed that the President has put forth a budget request in order to avoid the very same budget caps he signed into law last year.

As the force gets smaller, risk increases.

We are not out to keep China down. But we don't look for anybody to dominate the region and certainly not anybody to push the United States out.

Of the 2.5 million Americans who need treatment for opioid use disorders, less than 1 million are receiving it. That is a serious problem, and we have got to do something about it.