Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I want to thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle on this particular piece of legislation. I know there is a lot of passion behind this, and there should be, and I do believe at the end of the day there will be an appropriate authorization and spending level so we can get this bill passed, which is something I support. I also want to thank Chairman Grassley, Ranking Member Leahy, and all those who have been involved in this particular topic of bringing opioid abuse to the forefront. Opioid abuse is an issue every Member of the Senate hears about when they go home. For many Nevadans, substance abuse is an issue that hits close. It is an issue I read about in constituents' letters and hear in far too many calls that come in to my office on this issue. Like many of my colleagues, I have heard from those who are struggling with addiction or who have lost a loved one to this epidemic. In my home State of Nevada, there were 545 drug overdose deaths in 2014 alone. I have heard countless stories from young Nevadans who have experienced addiction themselves or seen their friends slip into this scary spiral of abuse. I recently met a young man from Reno who was advocating on behalf of multiple friends whom he had lost to heroin overdose. He said it started with experimenting with leftover painkillers in his friend's parents' medicine cabinet. Eventually, the pills were gone, and the group of friends started experimenting with harder and cheaper drugs.…”