Roy Blunt: “I am pleased to be here to talk about this bill. First of all, following up on what my friend just talked about on…”

“I am pleased to be here to talk about this bill. First of all, following up on what my friend just talked about on opioid abuse, I want to particularly thank the Chair for her leadership on this issue. Really, as the chairman of the appropriating committee that looked at this before we had any legislation, it was largely the Chair's effort that made us triple the amount of money we were committing to this cause over a year ago. I thank her for understanding this and advocating for it as one of the two or three earliest Members to bring to the attention of the Senate that this is a problem that affects rural America, urban America, small States, and big States. I thank her for her leadership. Because of that, last year we had a 284-percent increase in the money committed to that. We doubled that amount again this year. Assuming we are able to move forward with the Labor, Health and Human Services bill this year, it will be virtually a 600-percent increase. We are already halfway there, and that first half was largely because of the Presiding Officer's understanding of this issue, and I am grateful for that. Madam President, on the bill before the body today, I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting the Gold Star Families Voices Act. The legislation passed the House unanimously in September. I hope the Senate will do the same today. In 2000, Congress created the Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress.…”