Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Our work on the House floor today is the culmination of more than a year's effort to craft legislation in the Energy and Commerce Committee that will save lives and help stem the tide of the opioid crisis that has struck at the health of our people wherever they live in America. In my Oregon district, I have held multiple roundtable discussions with parents, with those addicted, and with those who treat the addicted. I have talked with law enforcement officials and emergency room physicians. I have sought the counsel and the advice of those who are closest to this national problem, and I have worked with my colleagues to carefully craft legislation that responds to the need and to their suggestions. The headlines--we know they are everywhere--tell the tragic stories of loved ones gone far too soon. We are confronting an addiction that mercilessly seizes control and then destroys. This killer doesn't discriminate--not by age, not by race, not by where you live, or what you believe. We are here because opioid addiction continues to take the lives of more than 100 people in America each and every day. These are real people in all of our districts--people like Amanda. Just this past January, Amanda was seeking relief from the pain surrounding her mental illness. She ended up dying from an overdose of fentanyl.…”