Michael Burgess: “I thank the gentleman from Kentucky for his participation this evening. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from West…”

“I thank the gentleman from Kentucky for his participation this evening. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. McKinley), the vice chairman of the Environment Subcommittee. Mr. McKINLEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Burgess for organizing this Special Order event. Mr. Speaker, the United States represents only 5 percent of the global population, yet we consume over 80 percent of the opioids produced around the world. Shouldn't that have raised a red flag? Since 2011, our office has conducted over 50 roundtable meetings with doctors, pharmacists, nurses, and law enforcement, listening and learning from professionals how we could best address this problem. Congress has acted. As you heard a minute ago, the 21st Century Cures Act and CARA were good first steps, but it is evident that more work needs to be done. Last month, under President Trump and the Republican Congress leadership, we secured an additional $4 billion in funding, the largest investment ever in this crisis. We have made progress in other areas. In the book, ``American Pain'' by John Temple, he cites an ever- increasing production quota as a contributing factor to this drug opioid abuse. Even as it became clear that the opioid abuse was a growing problem, our producers in pharmaceuticals were producing more and more pain medicine.…”