Political Quotes

“I thank the chairman for yielding. I congratulate my friend and colleague from Kentucky (Mr. Barr) for tackling this difficult and very important issue. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this much-needed legislation that would expand housing options for individuals who are transitioning out of addiction treatment and require continued support. These are typically people who have exhausted all of their resources already. Why? Because they are addicted. That is why they are in this, that is why they qualify for these housing assistance vouchers, and this is right on target for helping them. The THRIVE Act is an important piece of legislation with strong, bipartisan support that came out of our committee that would create a pilot program to allocate Section 8 housing choice vouchers to transitional housing nonprofits with evidence-based models of recovery and life skills training. It is important to note that this is 10,000 total vouchers out of the 2.2 million that are available, or one-half of 1 percent of all of those vouchers, whichever is less, so we are talking about a small portion of all of the total vouchers that are available. But here is what we do know, Mr. Chairman. Our country, our States, and our communities are in crisis right now. Over the last decade, there has been this dramatic rise in opioid abuse, whether it is the nonmedical use of prescription drugs, as well as illicitly manufactured heroin. We need engagement at every level.…”