Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, after talking about it, the Justice Department and the Trump administration have done nothing. In one single year, Medicaid paid out $9.3 billion associated with this opioid crisis, billions and billions of dollars. Yet, when I tried in the Ways and Means Committee to get involved in terms of getting back the money Medicare has paid out, other billions of dollars, it was rejected on a party-line vote. At the very time that we are being told our police and first responders across America and, indeed, individual citizens should be carrying naloxone, a drug that can reverse the effects of overdoses and prevent a death, we have seen an incredible spike from Big Pharma in the cost of that. I see headlines. How does a $575 lifesaving drug jump to $4,500? Because these pharmaceutical manufacturers think they can hijack America and, particularly, our law enforcement sources. We need more than a photo-op version of these measures. If every one of the bills being considered, all 30 of them, are approved, few of those who really need treatment are going to get it as a result of this, and none of those responsible for this crisis will be held accountable. This crisis is a true hurricane. It is being treated like a dust devil. Approve these modest proposals that do no harm, but then let's move forward with a Congress that really wants to solve the problem.”