Political Quotes

“Madam President, we just invoked cloture on an amendment to deal with the funding of an incipient epidemic--an epidemic that has serious ramifications for our society and for our country--and it is right that we did that. I rise today, however, to point out the fact that we are in the midst not of an incipient epidemic but a real epidemic that since lunchtime today has killed 15 people in this country. Fifteen people have lost their lives since the middle of the day today. The epidemic I refer to, of course, is heroin and opiate drug abuse and addiction. This is a crisis which is upon us right now. A month or so ago, we passed with great fanfare the CARA bill, the comprehensive addiction bill. It was the right thing to do. It was a good bill, but it had no funding. Passing a bill like that with no funding is like sending the fire department to a fire with no water. We cannot deal with this problem until we have the capacity to provide treatment to the people who need it. Right now there is a huge shortage of treatment beds. There is even a shortage of detox beds, let alone treatment. When a person finally gets to the point where they are struggling with this terribly destructive disease and they are ready to embrace and take on the treatment, to not have it available or to have it available at an exorbitant cost is tragic. We are losing lives every hour--47,000 people a year--and it is expanding and exploding, and it is tearing our communities apart.…”