Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1545 offered by the gentlewoman from New Hampshire (Ms. Kuster), who is the ranking member of our Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, and, as importantly, a champion of policies that make sure the scourge of opioid addiction is addressed in this Congress, and is a leading expert on it. This legislation would make significant progress towards curbing substance abuse disorders and diversion of prescription medication in our veteran population. As you heard, currently, a veteran's dependent can receive a prescription for a controlled substance from a provider in the community, and then they receive the same prescription for the same controlled substance from a VA provider without either provider's knowledge of what happened. Congress, in the past, has attempted to remedy this problem but, due to confusion within the VA, was unsuccessful. I believe that Congresswoman Kuster's legislation would clear up this confusion and allow the VA to better serve both veterans and their dependents by allowing the VA and community providers to recognize and treat substance abuse disorders instead of contributing to them by unintentionally overprescribing. Mr. Speaker, I fully support this legislation. I would encourage all of my colleagues to do the same. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.”