Substance Use-Disorder Prevention That Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. HASSAN. Mr. President, I thank my colleagues Senator King and Senator Markey for their remarks and their work as we all come together to battle this terrible opioid epidemic.

I rise as the Senate considers bipartisan legislation that marks a critical step forward in the fight against the fentanyl, heroin, and opioid crisis.

In New Hampshire, and all across our Nation, entire communities are being ravaged by this epidemic. In order to turn the tide, we need to combat the challenges communities are experiencing from all angles; we need to collaborate across traditional boundaries; we need to take a truly all-hands-on-deck approach because the magnitude of this crisis demands it.

This crisis does not discriminate. I have spoken to so many individuals and families from all walks of life who are heartbroken and reeling. Their loved ones were professionals--students, athletes, parents--and then they fell victim to this illness, and their lives and the lives of those who loved them were never the same.

Just this morning, I met with a number of grandparents who are now the primary caregivers for their grandchildren--a situation that many of us at first considered a phenomenon and now realize has become commonplace because the children's parents have died or they are in prison or they are simply absent or unable to be a caregiver due to their substance use disorder.

I spoke this morning with this group of grandparents, two of whom have been raising their grandson for nearly 9 years now, one of whom has seen two grandchildren returned to their parents after their parents recovered from their addiction. In one case, the grandparent whose grandchildren have gone back to their parents is, at age 57, starting life completely anew. She had given up her job and gone through her entire retirement savings to keep her children safe while their parents battled their addiction.

Another set of grandparents, who again have given up everything to keep their grandson safe, are scared of going to court to get permanent custody and adopt their grandchild because they are concerned the child's father will reappear and contest the custody, and the cost of that custody battle will mean they have no money left to care for their grandchild.

Most heartbreakingly, both sets of grandparents said to me they were worried about what will happen to their grandchildren should they die since the children's parents might not be able to be there for them.

I was also reminded today that at one of our largest treatment centers in New Hampshire, the providers estimate that 40 percent of those in treatment have children, which means there will be more and more children in our communities who need their grandparents or other caregivers to step forward.

This crisis is also taking a particular toll on first responders who respond to overdose after overdose, sometimes reviving the same people on the same day.

This crisis also impacts our workforce and our economy. I have met with a number of employers who can't fill jobs because they can't find workers who can pass a drug test. There are people now in recovery, some with convictions on their record, who wonder if anyone will ever give them a second chance.

There is a lot of collateral damage from this crisis. The good news is, just as the ripple effect of this epidemic touches all parts of our communities, people from all corners of New Hampshire and our country are responding--as communities, as friends and neighbors, and as first responders and healthcare providers--in a collaborative manner. This is a multifaceted problem, and it requires a multifaceted approach, but for too long we haven't seen a Federal response that matches the urgency on the ground.

I am hopeful that by passing this bipartisan legislation, we can move forward. We have given communities and families some of the support they need and that they have been waiting for, aching for.

This comprehensive legislation we are considering today includes many priorities the people of New Hampshire, particularly those on the frontlines, have been urging us to fight for.

This bill reauthorizes and improves State-targeted response grants to ensure that States hardest hit by this crisis--States like New Hampshire--continue to get the resources they need.

This legislation also includes the bipartisan Comprehensive Opioid Recovery Centers Act, which I partnered on with Senator Capito, to offer grants to expand existing centers of care to provide comprehensive coordinated care and support services like housing and employment reintegration for those who are in recovery.

We have also heard loudly and clearly from our healthcare providers that we need a more integrated approach in order to combat this complex disease on all fronts. So this bill includes legislation Senator Portman and I worked on together aimed at the next generation of doctors, encouraging medical schools and residency programs to integrate addiction medicine and treatment into their curriculum, as well as ensuring that doctors who get this training can apply right away to prescribe medication-assisted treatment as soon as they are licensed and have a DEA number.

Members of law enforcement have made clear that they need additional tools to crack down on bad actors in the pharmaceutical industry whose behavior has greatly contributed to this crisis. So Senator Grassley, Senator Cruz, and I worked on a provision to make those tools available and to help hold industry bad actors accountable.

This legislation also curbs the importation of deadly fentanyl and other synthetic drugs being shipped through the borders to drug traffickers in the United States.

These are just a number of the key provisions included in this bill. As the Senate moves forward and moves into negotiations with the House of Representatives, I will work with Members of both parties to make important improvements.

For example, we should keep working in a bipartisan way to include a provision making permanent prescribing authority for nurse practitioners and physician assistants, which were some of the measures that Senators Markey and King were just talking about. Nurses and physician assistants are vital parts of our care workforce, including and especially in rural and underserved areas, and their prescribing authority should be made permanent, and we should allow additional advanced practice nurses to prescribe.

I am pleased that we are taking this step forward today, and I am grateful for the Senate's bipartisan work that has brought us to this point--the consideration of the bill on the Senate floor. I am particularly grateful for the work of Senator Alexander and Senator Murray.

This legislation is a vital next step in our efforts to combat this crisis. The biggest mistake anyone could make is thinking that our efforts are anywhere close to being done. As the families I met with this morning made clear, we have a lot more work to do.

I am encouraged by the progress of this bill, and I believe its implementation will help us mount a much more informed and comprehensive response to this devastating epidemic. I also remain encouraged that we have secured a significant increase in Federal funding to combat this crisis through our budget negotiations.

Let there be no mistake. We will need to continue to work together. In particular, we will need to learn about which treatment and recovery practices will be successful in the long run, and we will need further research to establish best practices for supporting a newly at-risk cohort--the children of those with this disorder. We have been responding to and learning about this disease as the epidemic unfolded, and there is much we do not know and much we still need to tackle.

I am encouraged that Members of both parties have come together, demonstrating that we can put partisanship aside and work together to address some of the most dire challenges our communities face. We owe it to all of the many stakeholders in this fight to keep listening to them, to keep collaborating together, and to keep working on solutions so that we can truly make progress and get better. This is a good start, but it is and must be only a start.

Recognition of the Majority Leader

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source