Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank him for his long work in this field, not just the last 2 years but, really, a lifetime in this space. I commend him for that work. Also, with mental health issues, he has been helping educate Congress about moving toward solutions. My colleague has outlined the scope of the national problem we have, and each of us can talk about our respective districts and what has been going on there. In my district, just over the border from my colleague's, western Pennsylvania has been especially hard hit. In Beaver County, we saw 102 overdose deaths related to opioids in 2016, up from 30 in 2013. In Cambria County, we lost 94 people to overdose deaths in 2016, a startling 62 percent increase from 2015. The stories just keep coming. A story of the mother who lost her 10th child, her youngest child, to this epidemic, who insisted that the words ``damn heroin'' be put in her son's obituary. Or the couple we learned about before Christmas, who overdosed, and 3 days later their infant died from neglect, all three being found 4 days after that. Mr. Speaker, it is all hands on deck to address this crisis. We are coming together at the Federal, State, and community level to develop a comprehensive strategy to stop this epidemic and to share best practices at every level. That is what a big part of our Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, passed last year, was all about--an important first step. Another asset we have, Mr.…”