Commerce, Justice, Science, Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, Interior, Environment, Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Act, 2020

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Arkansas for his work and also my other colleagues, those who have already spoken and the good Senator from Montana, who is going to speak right after. This really has been a bipartisan effort to make a difference, and I appreciate all my colleagues who are here today and who have done so much to advance this work, as well as the Senator from Kansas, who I believe will be speaking here in just a minute.

I join my colleagues today to discuss our Nation's effort to battle the opioid abuse epidemic that has taken far too many lives and has affected communities both large and small. Our first responders, law enforcement officers, healthcare professionals, and medical facilities are fighting this crisis on the frontlines. That is why we worked to advance a comprehensive approach that assists these key players and empowers States and localities to combat this public health emergency.

Last year, Congress passed and the President signed into law bipartisan legislation--the SUPPORT Act--to help families and communities impacted by addiction. This law supports prevention, treatment, recovery, and law enforcement efforts.

Additionally, the SUPPORT Act contains language that I was able to cosponsor to prevent the sale and shipment of illicit and dangerous drugs. This aligns with the goals of my Illegal Synthetic Drug Safety Act, which closes a loophole that has enabled bad actors to circumvent the law to distribute synthetic variations of drugs, like the powerful drug fentanyl, by labeling the products as ``not for human consumption.'' While these variations are technically different, they hold the same dangerous risks as the original drug.

The law also includes the Synthetic Tracking and Overdose Prevention Act, or STOP Act--another measure I cosponsored that requires shipments from foreign countries sent through the U.S. Postal Service to provide electronic data. This enables CBP to better target illegal substances like fentanyl and prevent them from being shipped into our country from places like China and other countries.

These measures are important steps in keeping deadly drugs like fentanyl out of our communities; nevertheless, there is more to do, and we continue working to combat the opioid abuse epidemic from all sides. Just this week, I co-led a letter with Senator Shaheen encouraging the FAA to work with airlines to get opioid overdose reversal drugs like Naloxone included in the airlines' emergency medical kits.

As chairman of the Senate Ag-FDA Appropriations Subcommittee, I worked to secure $20 million in our fiscal 2020 funding legislation to support telemedicine grants that will help rural communities to combat opioid abuse as well.

Additionally, as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I have supported the good work of Senator Blunt, the chair of the Labor- HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee, to provide strong support for opioid abuse prevention, treatment, and recovery initiatives through the Department of Health and Human Services. The Labor-HHS- Education bill provides $3.9 billion for such efforts, including $800 million for the National Institutes of Health to develop pain management alternatives to opioids, as well as to study opioid addiction, and $200 million to support the great work done by our community health centers, to enable them to expand prevention and treatment services and provide access to opioid overdose-reversal drugs.

Also, these bills include language I helped author that places a focus on addressing the challenges facing rural communities struggling with this ongoing crisis. The bill gives States greater flexibility in how they can use opioid abuse funds, including allowing some resources to be used to address stimulants like meth, which remains a substance of high concern in many of our rural States, including my own.

We need to move forward with the Labor-HHS appropriations bill and the other full-year funding bills, including the Defense appropriations bill, which I believe we will be voting on this week, because they are vital to our national security and provide certainty for our military and our servicemembers.

Passing these full-year appropriations bills will ensure that we fund important priorities, from national security to vital support for our ag producers, to combatting the opioid abuse epidemic we are talking about here today.

We worked hard to pass the SUPPORT Act to provide our healthcare providers, first responders, and law enforcement with the tools to prevent drug abuse, treat those suffering from addiction, and assist those in recovery.

While progress is being made, we need to continue working together to advance full-year funding bills to keep moving the ball forward in the fight against opioid abuse. We can combat the epidemic, stem its tide, and save lives.

I again want to commend my colleagues and will defer to my colleagues from Montana and Kansas.

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