Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I want to start by thanking my colleague from Indiana for his indulgence, and I look forward to hearing his remarks. We were both on the floor today waiting to speak while we tried to work out differences with the continuing resolution. I am hopeful those issues can be resolved so we can have a process to move forward with our spending bills. In the meantime, I need to talk on the floor today about an ongoing issue in all of our communities around the country, sadly, which is this issue of prescription drug abuse, heroin, and now fentanyl. It is really an epidemic. It is now the No. 1 cause of accidental death in my home State of Ohio, and more recently it is the No. 1 cause of accidental death in our country, surpassing car accidents. It is something that is taking thousands of lives every year, and it is something that is tearing families apart, causing crime, creating real hardship for so many families, and hurting the economy. President Obama and his administration declared this week Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Awareness Week, and I commend him for that. I think raising the awareness of this issue is really important right now. Having a national conversation on this issue is really important right now. This is the opportunity I take every week to come to the floor. I have been doing it since before we passed the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act back in March.…”