Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I rise to speak in support of this amendment and to thank my friend, Ms. Waters, for her work on this initiative. Before I go through that, I just want to say we are more than happy to team up with the gentlewoman on this issue of crack cocaine and its effects, and I am sure that Mr. Scalise, although I can't officially speak for him, I am sure that he would work in partnership with the gentlewoman. The gentlewoman has raised an issue that we have dealt with in other parts of this legislation but not in the part that the gentlewoman has brought to us. There will be more going forward, I assure you, and we would be happy to work with the gentlewoman on that. Mr. Rush brought an amendment on the IMD issue to make sure that those suffering from cocaine and crack cocaine addiction also could get treatment under expansion in the IMD, so we would be happy to work with the gentlewoman on that. This amendment directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct a survey of organizations that provide substance abuse treatment services and then develop a plan to direct resources to address any identified gaps in services for specific types of substance use disorders. This information will help us better understand how our Federal dollars are invested in interdiction treatment at the local level and what more can be done with Federal resources to yield even better returns in reducing drug-related crimes, accidents, overdoses, and deaths.…”