Tsunami Warning, Education, and Research Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. President, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to all of our colleagues in the House and the Senate who worked so hard to make this bill the best it could be for the patients and families we serve. In particular, I want to express my appreciation to Vice President Biden for his leadership, vision, and determination. I especially want to thank the chairman of the HELP Committee, Senator Alexander, for his work and his leadership on this bill, as well as Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, Ranking Member Frank Pallone, and Congresswoman Diana DeGette.

I would like to reiterate my gratitude to our staff on both sides of the aisle who put in very long hours and weekends and more to get this legislation finished. As a result of a lot of strong bipartisan work, we are now sending a bill to the President's desk that will invest in tackling our hardest- to-treat diseases, put real dollars behind the fight against the opioid epidemic, and make badly needed changes to mental health care in our country. I am particularly thankful for the strong bipartisan work of Senator Murphy and Senator Cassidy, as well as Congressman Murphy.

I am confident that I am not alone in saying that I have heard from so many people in my home State about each and every one of these challenges. There are patients and families waiting and hoping for new cures and treatments, people from every walk of life who make clear that the opioid epidemic has cost too many lives and torn too many families apart, and families who have struggled to get loved ones the mental health care they need, and our broken mental health care system got in their way, rather than helping.
I listened to these stories in my home State of Washington. I brought them back and told them here on the Senate floor, and now I am very proud to be taking bipartisan steps to help give patients, families, and communities the relief they need in response to some of the biggest challenges in health care of our time.

Thank you again to all of the Senators who worked on this and all of our colleagues in the House for this bipartisan effort. I want to thank the Congressional staff from both Houses and both parties who worked so hard over the last 2 years on this legislation.

From my staff, Wade Ackerman, Kalah Auchincloss, Nick Bath, Jane Bigham, Remy Brim, Andi Fristedt, Colin Goldfinch, Megan Howard, Madeleine Pannell, Melanie Rainer, Julie Tierney, Elizabeth Wagner, Eli Zupnick, Helen Hare, Evan Schatz, John Righter, Aravind Sreenath, Natalie Kirilichin, and Kate Blizinsky.
From Chairman Alexander's staff David Cleary, Margaret Coulter, MarySumpter Lapinski, Brett Meeks, Laura Pence, Melissa Pfaff, Kara Townshend, Curtis Vann, Lindsey Seidman and Elizabeth Wroe.
From Representative Pallone's staff, Eric Flamm, Waverley Gordon, Tiffany Guarascio, Rachel Pryor, Kim Trzeciak, Arielle Woronoff, and Megan Velez.

From Chairman Upton's staff, Paul Edattel, Adrianna Simonelli, John Stone, Carly McWilliams, JP Paluskiewicz, Adam Buckalew, Jay Gulshen and Josh Trent.

Thank you to the staff from all our committee Democrats who worked so hard on the package: from Senator Murphy's staff, David Bonine and Joe Dunn; from Senator Whitehouse's staff, Jen DeAngelis and Anna Esten; from Senator Baldwin's staff, Kathleen Laird and Jasmine Badreddine; from Senator Casey's staff, Sara Mabry and Doug Hartman; from Senator Franken's staff, Beth Wilder and Rachel Cumberbatch; from Senator Bennet's staff, Rohini Kosoglu and Rina Shah; from Senator Mikulski's staff, Jean Doyle, Jessica McNiece, and Amanda Shelton; from Leader Reid's staff, Kate Leone and McKenzie Bennet; from Senator Schumer's staff, Veronica Duron; from Leader Pelosi's office, Wendell Primus; from Representative Hoyer's office, Charlene MacDonald.

Thank you to the tireless staff of the Senate legislative counsel: Kim Tamber, Bill Baird, and Katie Grendon; and Holly Harvey, Ellen Werble and Julia Christensen of the Congressional Budget Office.
At the White House, let me thank Amy Rosebaum, Jeanne Lambrew, CaroleJohnson, and Kate Mevis. Each of the agency heads played a crucial role in pushing this bill forward: Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Mathews Burwell, National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf, Principal Deputy Administrator for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Kana Enomoto, and National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Dr. Vindell Washington and his predecessor Dr. Karen DeSalvo. The staff of each of these agencies did invaluable work over a long period of time: Andrea Palm, Jim Esquea, Sara Singleton, Jeremy Sharp, Dayle Cristinzio, Rachel Sher, Sara Walinsky, Adrienne Hallett, Laura Berkson, Lauren Higgins, Alex Khalife, Rachel Stauffer, Maren McBride, Steven Posnack, Karson Mahler, Tom Coderre, Brian Altman, Brian Payne, Peggie Rice, and Jon White. I thank Senator Alexander, who has worked diligently across the aisle
to get this done.

My sincere thanks to you today.

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