Providing for Consideration of H.R. Stop the Importation and Trafficking of Synthetic Analogues Act of Providing for Consideration of H.R. Transitional Housing for Recovery in Viable Environments Demonstration Program Act; and Providing for Consideration of H.R. Securing the International Mail Against Opioids Act of 2018

Floor Speech

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Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, yes, America does have a wildfire when it comes to the opioid crisis; and what we are getting this week and next, instead of experienced, professional firefighters with a plan to put out that wildfire, we are being offered a collection of garden hoses. It won't get the job done.

If words, if speeches, if the President's tweets could resolve this problem, we could be here today celebrating a victory. Instead, we have a piecemeal program around the edges of the crisis.

You only have to look at the President's tweets and his near- meaningless declaration of a healthcare emergency, and how he is handling the problem, to know how serious these Republicans are about it. I think the President views this as just another one in the series of political reality television shows that he is producing daily. Because instead of turning to a physician, a firefighter, a scientist, a drug policy expert, he has turned over the leadership of his entire opioid crisis effort to a political consultant and double-talk expert, Kellyanne Conway.

We haven't seen much other than talk over there, and with these 30 bills that are being considered today making modest changes around the edges of the problem, we are not going to advance very far.

Of course, there is a reason for this in this Congress. We can only consider legislation that a majority of the Republicans say we can consider, and they applied a test to get these 30 bills to exclude other ones. The test was twofold: If it cost much of anything, the bill couldn't be considered here. Second, if Big Pharma opposed it, it certainly couldn't be considered here.

So, like Trump, the Republican Congress offers more words, a few bills that may help a few people, but does not address the central issue in the crisis. What we need are substantial additional resources for treatment.

Instead of going in that direction, the Republicans turned about- face, and they are trying to drag us backward so we will have even fewer treatment options than today.

The President's latest assault on all Americans who have a preexisting condition, to deny them access to healthcare, and his assault to cut billions out of Medicaid, will deny the very places that so many people can now turn to for opioid treatment. So they won't add resources, they won't permit us to add resources, and they want to take away the resources that exist today.

Of course, much of the treatment that is out there is necessary because of the wrongs committed by pharmaceutical manufacturers in promoting these opioids in the first place. Here again, the test is not approved for bringing legislation on the floor because Big Pharma opposes it.

I believe we should be following the lead of 41 State attorneys general across America who are saying: Let's look at what Big Pharma did to cause this problem. Why make the taxpayer pay for everything when Big Pharma played such a role?

We ought to have accountability for those who helped to create the opioid crisis, yet the Federal Government--though, again, Trump talked about it, but he didn't do anything.

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Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, after talking about it, the Justice Department and the Trump administration have done nothing.

In one single year, Medicaid paid out $9.3 billion associated with this opioid crisis, billions and billions of dollars. Yet, when I tried in the Ways and Means Committee to get involved in terms of getting back the money Medicare has paid out, other billions of dollars, it was rejected on a party-line vote.

At the very time that we are being told our police and first responders across America and, indeed, individual citizens should be carrying naloxone, a drug that can reverse the effects of overdoses and prevent a death, we have seen an incredible spike from Big Pharma in the cost of that. I see headlines.

How does a $575 lifesaving drug jump to $4,500? Because these pharmaceutical manufacturers think they can hijack America and, particularly, our law enforcement sources.

We need more than a photo-op version of these measures. If every one of the bills being considered, all 30 of them, are approved, few of those who really need treatment are going to get it as a result of this, and none of those responsible for this crisis will be held accountable.

This crisis is a true hurricane. It is being treated like a dust devil. Approve these modest proposals that do no harm, but then let's move forward with a Congress that really wants to solve the problem.

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