Political Quotes

“Madam President, I am pleased to see that on the floor we continue to make progress on the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act. The legislation before us today, yesterday, and this week has been about how to deal with this growing problem we have around the country. It is at epidemic levels of heroin and prescription drug abuse, addiction, and overdoses. Today, while we are talking about this legislation on the floor of the Senate, we expect over 100 Americans will die--die from overdoses of addiction, overdoses of heroin or prescription drugs. This is a problem that doesn't just affect my State of Ohio, although we are one of those States that is most severely impacted. It affects every single State represented by everyone in this Chamber. That is why, over the past few years, you have seen this body together, Republicans and Democrats alike, to address the problem. Senator Whitehouse and I have been the coauthors of this effort, but so many others have been involved. Senator Ayotte, Senator Klobuchar, Senator Feinstein--who is on the floor right now--have been supportive of the legislation but also improved the legislation with an amendment which was accepted earlier this week dealing with the international drug cartels. There is an effort in this body to take on this issue, not in a partisan way but in a totally nonpartisan way. Last week I was in Ohio meeting with groups, talking about various issues. Every single place I went this issue came up.…”