Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, this is our last bill of the day on opioids. This is the 25th piece of legislation that we have worked through, not only our committee, but also now the House floor. I rise in strong support of H.R. 5812, the CONNECTIONS Act. Now, this legislation enhances and improves state-run prescription drug monitoring programs. These are really, really important. Prescription drug monitoring programs or, as they are known, PDMPs, are useful tools in helping identify and deter drug misuse and diversion. They allow health prescribers to identify patients exhibiting risky behaviors and assist those individuals in getting help. By strengthening the current efforts of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in coordination with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, the CONNECTIONS Act will help make state-run PDMPs more easily accessible, more user-friendly, more accurate, and better integrated across the country. So I want to thank my colleague from Virginia, Representative Morgan Griffith, a terrific member of our committee, Vice Chair of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, who has done a lot of work investigating pill dumping and patient brokering and the kind of abuses we have seen that have helped to inform our legislation they have done over on the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.…”