Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for his leadership on this important issue and for the opportunity to address the House on this very important topic. Mr. Speaker, as you have heard, our Nation is facing an epidemic. Over the past two decades, opioid overdoses have quadrupled. Think about that. They have quadrupled in the United States. My home State, as Dr. Murphy has just mentioned, has faced significant increases in drug overdose death rates, including a 70 percent increase in synthetic opioid overdose deaths in just the last 10 years. It is clear that this is a crisis, which is why we in Congress are committed to combating this growing epidemic. Late last year, Congress passed sweeping legislation, called the 21st Century Cures Act. It was bipartisan legislation that authorized $6.3 billion in funding to bring our healthcare innovation infrastructure into the 21st century. This legislation included $1 billion for opioid intervention and prevention treatment programs throughout all 50 States. Earlier this spring, the Federal Government began awarding grants in order to confront this crisis, including $11.7 million to the State of Washington. While these funds will help expand treatment options, there is still much more work to be done at the Federal level, which is why I cosponsored legislation like H.R. 1057, the Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevention, or STOP, Act.…”