Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. H.R. 5052, the Opioid Program Evaluation Act, or OPEN Act, is a bill that would require an evaluation of the Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Reduction Grant Program that will be authorized by H.R. 5046, and other opioid-related grant programs administered by the Department of Health and Human Services. This bipartisan bill, sponsored by the gentleman from California (Mr. McCarthy), the majority leader, and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the minority whip, requires the Attorney General, through an arrangement with the National Academy of Sciences and the Secretary of HHS, through an arrangement with the National Academy of Sciences, or other entity, to: Identify outcomes that are to be achieved by the activities funded by Congress to address opioid abuse; Develop the metrics by which each program's performance will be evaluated; Complete an interim evaluation assessing the nature and extent of opioid abuse and illegal opioid distribution in the United States; And carry out an evaluation of the effectiveness of the programs. Additionally, to increase transparency and facilitate the evaluation of the performance of the programs, the bill requires grantees to collect and annually report data on the activities conducted pursuant to these programs. Evaluations such as these can be Congress' best measure of how well a Federal program or agency is operating.…”