Conference Report on S. Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016

Floor Speech

After much thought, I have decided to support the conference report on S. 524. It is not perfect and does not nearly do enough from a funding perspective, but it makes some important steps that would allow us to begin to address the opioid addiction crisis that is impacting our Nation.

The American people are desperate for relief from the opioid epidemic currently devastating our country, and they are depending on this Congress to act. By now, we have all heard the stories: young people taken from their families in their prime; babies born suffering from the cruel effects of opioid withdrawal; and parents who have lost the ability to care for their families as they battle their addiction.

To treat this epidemic as anything less than a national crisis would be a terrible mistake. And even though we have already lost far too many lives to overdoses, we still have an opportunity to save many more.

This conference report includes many important policies that have bipartisan agreement. For example, we will now allow patients and doctors to choose to partially fill their opioids so that excess medicines are not dispensed unnecessarily. This will reduce the number of unused pills in circulation, which will reduce the risk of misuse, diversion, and overdose.

The conference report also allows nurse practitioners and physician assistants to treat individuals with opioid use disorders with buprenorphine.

This final report also includes important and proven programs to address prevention, treatment, and recovery; but just changing policies alone won't be enough. This legislation takes only a small step at a time when the American people need us to run.

Mr. Speaker, how can we truly help the American people without giving them the resources to fight this epidemic?

We cannot wait while lives continue to be destroyed by opiate addiction and while treatment options remain out of reach.

Congressional Democrats, Mr. Speaker, have long advocated for more funding in this package and have even proposed bipartisan policies to offset the cost, but Republicans have stubbornly refused to commit essential funding as part of this overall bill. Time and again they have rejected efforts to make a real difference by going beyond the important policy changes in this bill and actually supporting significant funding to properly take on this growing national epidemic today. Instead, Republicans have committed to increasing funding through the appropriations process, and we will certainly make sure that they live up to the repeated promises they have made in this regard.
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Mr. PALLONE. Pelosi), our Democratic leader.

Mr. Speaker, my Republican colleagues argue that we will pass this authorization bill today, and then sometime down the line we will provide funding through the regular appropriations process. But the problem is that that response does not match the urgency of the crisis.

To understand why, let's just take a quick look at the 2016 appropriations process. While the fiscal year 2016 began on October 1, 2015, the omnibus fiscal year 2016 appropriations act did not become law until December 18, 2015. If, as expected, the fiscal year 2017 process is similar, it will be at least 6 months before we can provide funding through the fiscal year 2017 appropriations process; and that is 6 months in which more people will die from potentially preventable overdose deaths and more individuals and families in need of treatment options will be unable to access them.

There is also no guarantee that additional funds will be made available through the appropriations process. The fiscal austerity policies of my Republican colleagues also make this option untenable. Due to the sequestration caps demanded by the Republicans, an increase in spending for one program can only occur with the cutting of funding for another program.

While the Republicans will say they introduced a Labor/HHS bill with $500 million in funding for a comprehensive State grant program for substance abuse treatment, what they don't say is that to provide that funding, we will have to agree to cut funding for other critical programs. The Republican Labor/HHS appropriations bill proposes eliminating funding for ObamaCare, title X family planning services, education programs, and employment training and development programs.

Not only are these cuts objectionable, we don't have to make such choices. We have bipartisan pay-fors available to offset the direct appropriations of funding now, and we cannot afford to wait. So this is truly an urgent crisis, and we should treat it as such by providing critical funding immediately. Failure to act will unacceptably lead to more deaths, and our communities cannot afford to wait any longer.

Mr. Speaker,

Mr. Speaker, as I said before, this conference report does include important and proven programs to address prevention, treatment, and recovery with regard to opioid abuse, and I did want to mention a few.

There is authorization to create a grant program for eligible entities to promote the prescribing of opioid reversal drugs, naloxone, in conjunction with opiates for patients at an elevated risk of overdose.

There is a program to reauthorize SAMHSA grants for the funding of residential treatment programs for pregnant and postpartum women with substance use disorders.

There is a demonstration grant program to States to streamline State requirements and procedures in order to assist veterans who have completed military emergency medical technician training to meet requirements for becoming an emergency medical technician in the State.

There is also a State grant program to increase the implementation of standing orders for opioid overdose reversal medication, again, naloxone.

As I have said before, there are a number of very important programs here that authorize grants to States to deal with the prevention, treatment, and recovery from opioids. But, again, these programs will not be effective without some significant funding provided pursuant to those authorizations. So I want to stress, again, as Democrats, we support this bill because it does have authorization for many programs that will help with opioid addiction, but we need to hold the Republicans' feet to the fire to make sure that this funding is actually provided.

Mr. Speaker,

Mr. Speaker, I want to stress that President Obama recently announced additional actions to expand access to treatment, strengthen prescription drug monitoring, enable safe disposal of unneeded drugs, and accelerate research on pain and opioid misuse and overdose. The President, I think, has made it clear that addressing this epidemic is a priority for his administration.

While Federal agencies have been using their authority to take every available action they can, Congress needs to provide additional funding to make lifesaving treatment available to everyone who needs it. The President has called for $1.1 billion in new funding to help Americans who want treatment wherever they live. Every day that passes without congressional action to provide these additional resources is a missed opportunity to get treatment to those who want it, help prevent overdoses, and support communities across the country impacted by this epidemic.

Recovery from opioid and other substance use disorders is possible, and many Americans are able to recover because they get the treatment and care they need. But too many still are not able to get treatment. That is why the President has called on Congress to provide the resources needed to ensure that every American with an opioid use disorder who wants treatment can get it and start on the road to recovery.

Mr. Speaker,

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Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to the time remaining on each side.

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Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker,

I just want to again point out that the effort here is not only bipartisan, but we are also working with the administration to try to address this epidemic. And one of the things that we were trying to do with the legislation, but it became unnecessary because of the President's executive action, was with regard to bup.

This is a painkiller, if you will, that is used as an alternative to the addictive painkillers that cause the opiate problem. And until recently, under the law, a physician could only have up to 100 patients to whom he was administering bup, but now, in the last week or so, the President announced that that cap has been lifted to 275.

Now, in the legislation, we do expand the types of providers who can treat opioid dependence using bup, but, at the same time, it was necessary, I believe, to raise that cap because there is a waiting list--a rather extensive waiting list--for people who would like to take advantage of bup. So I just wanted to say that that is one of the most important things that actually was done by the President.

And it is very important for us to work together not only in terms of what we authorize, but also providing the funding for many of these programs, both what we are now authorizing pursuant to grants in this legislation, as well as what the administration is doing through agency action.

Mr. Speaker,

Again, Mr. Speaker, I will say that, after thoughtful consideration, I not only support the conference report, but I would urge my colleagues on the Democratic side to support the conference report.

While I continue to believe that we cannot turn the tide on this epidemic without dedicated additional resources for States, the underlying policies included in this bill are important steps forward.

As you know, Democratic conferees, along with the Democratic leadership, have worked tirelessly these past few weeks to try to include money for States to help treat our communities who are suffering. Republicans still, so far, refuse to commit the essential funding as part of this overall bill, but they have committed to increasing funding through the appropriations process, and I will continue to fight to ensure that they stand by that commitment.

The American people are desperate for relief. We must answer their call and continue our efforts in Washington, and one way to do that, certainly, is to pass this conference report.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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